Survival of the Fittest
by LittleGinger1216
Summary: Samantha was taken in by the group after being rescued by Daryl Dixon. Her whole life changes as she meets more survivors, fights to survive, and falls in love, all while the world around her is going to hell. Rated M for language and future chapters. PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS RESCUED. REVISING AND UPDATING CHAPTERS.
1. Chapter 1

The smell of rotting flesh filled the air. That's the only thing Samantha could ever smell. The dead corpses stumbled around the woods, and she watched them from the tree branch that she was perched on. She had come out here in search of food, whether it be something that she would have to kill or something that she could forage. Samantha just needed something to eat. Having an empty stomach was something that she was becoming used to, and sometimes she didn't even notice how empty it was. But today, her stomach was growling and cramping due to her hunger.

A light rustling sound came from the bushes down below, and she quickly pulled her gun out, ready to shoot. A little squirrel ran out of the bushes and Samantha put the gun down. If she shot that, the bullet would probably make the poor thing explode and it wouldn't be edible. Before the world went to shit, she had never been hunting, she had never even shot a gun.

A quick movement caught her eye, and she looked down to see the squirrel lying dead in the leaves, an arrow sticking out of it. "What the hell?" She muttered, and tucked the gun into the waistband on her pants. A tall man with short shaggy brown hair and a cross bow slung across his broad back walked out from behind a tree and went and pulled the arrow out of the squirrel.

He dropped the dead body into a small sack he was carrying. He looked around the forest for a little bit before walking off, and she quietly slid down the tree and followed him. She followed him for what seemed like hours before she groaned in annoyance. The bastard was leading her in circles.

"What do yeh want?" His voice was gruff and his accent was thick. She cleared her throat and stood up straighter, trying to make herself seem braver than she was feeling.

"I wanted to see where you were going with that squirrel." He scoffed.

"That ain't none of yer business. Yah need to go on yer own way, I ain't got time for yer shit." He turned around and walked off. She continued to follow him, feeling excited because she had found another living person, but she was also anxious. He could turn around and kill her with no problem, and she wouldn't even have time to realize what hit her.

"Listen here, I won't hesitate to take this arrow and shoot yah in yer god damned head. So, turn back around, and mind yer own buisness." He was getting pissed now, it was evident in his voice and facial features. His blue eyes were squinted in anger, and his tanned face was becoming flushed with a red hue.

She hesitated for a minute, but then called out, "I'm just hungry. I'm sorry that I had to be so stalkerish, but I just saw that squirrel and I'm dying for some food." He eyed her cautiously before clicking his tongue.

"C'mon girl. Let's go." He said jerking his head.

"You mean it?" She asked, not being able to stop the smile that was forming on her pretty face.

"If yah want to go, then shut up and start walkin." He barked. She obliged and followed him all the way back to a small campsite. There was an RV and quite a large group of people.

"You have a whole camp? I thought that maybe it was just you!" Samantha exclaimed, her eyes widening as she took in her surroundings. The people in the camp began to take notice of her trailing behind the large brute of a man, and she bit her lip. Hopefully they would take her in. She was tired of being alone.

"I never said that. C'mon." He demanded, jerking his head towards the RV.

A loud voice then cut through the silence, making Samantha jump and take a step closer to Daryl. "Hot damn, baby brother! Yah left to go get food and yah came back with this hot piece of ass. Good job. Maybe yah weren't as gay as I thought yah were." The sound was hickish as hell, and it was mocking. The man was larger than his brother, both in stature and build.

"Leave her alone, Merle. C'mon girl." Samantha then decided to speak up.

"I have a name you know. It's Samantha. You never told me your name." He rolled his eyes.

"Daryl Dixon." His name fit his appearance. Rough and so very country. She smiled. She liked that name. A man stepped in front of us, and Samantha backed up quickly. He was in a worn pair of jeans and a brown shirt with a badge on it. He was a cop before all the shit went down apparently.

"Who the hell is this?" He demanded, and Samantha felt nervous. What if he made her leave? She swallowed audibly. Licking her lips, she opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off.

"This here's Samantha. Found her out in the woods. She was all alone, lookin' for food." Daryl sounded irritated, like he didn't want to deal with the cop's shit.

"So, you just thought it would be okay to bring her here without asking anyone else? She could be dangerous!" The man was obviously irritated, and he rubbed a hand through his short brown hair, gripping the back of his neck roughly.

"Shane, calm down. Look at her, let's just give her a chance." A tall, slim brunette came over, placing her hand on his arm. Samantha assumed they were married. The attraction between the pair was undeniably obvious.

"My name is Lori Grimes. Ignore Shane, that's what everyone else does. And make yourself at home." She said, gesturing towards the campsite that had an assortment of people in it. Samantha smiled to herself.

 _Home._


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone at the camp was very welcoming, except for Shane and Ed. As it turns out, Shane was not married to Lori. She was married to his best friend, and he was shot in the line of duty, leaving her and her young son Carl behind. The last time that they had seen him was while he was in the hospital in a coma. Ed was Carol's husband, and he was an asshole. He leered at Samantha when she walked past, but she wasn't alone. She noticed him making eyes at every other woman in the camp, too.

Merle was a pervert, but Samantha didn't mind being around him. And she sure as hell didn't mind being around Daryl, because even though he never said too much to her, he was sure nice to look at.

The women were all very accepting of her, and she enjoyed their company. Amy was her favorite to be around. She was so young and easy going. Samantha related well to her considering that she was only twenty-one years old. Amy was a few years younger, but she was still good company. Her sister, Andrea, was very high strung, but Samantha still liked her. Carl and Sophia were very sweet kids, and she liked to play with them near the water during the day and then color with them at night.

After staying at the camp for almost a month, Samantha became very attached to almost everyone, but mostly the Dixon brothers. Merle stopped being so sleazy around her, and the two had developed respect for each other. Merle may have been shitty at times, but he could still take care of himself and his brother. Daryl made her heart race, and she couldn't help but get flustered when he showed her any attention.

Daryl was strong and gruff. The epitome of a redneck man. Samantha loved his cut off shirts so she could see his delicious arm muscles. She would notice his muscles flexing as he lugged his crossbow around and stuck blades in the heads of walkers.

"What are they talking about?" Samantha asked Carol, gesturing towards the men standing over by the van.

"They're planning a trip to Atlanta." The two women grimaced. It was so unsafe in Atlanta, due to it being overrun with walkers. She didn't want anyone to endanger themselves, especially Merle or Daryl.

"It's set then. I say we leave now." Shane decided, and the others agreed. They all dispersed so they could prepare, and she walked over to the Dixon brothers.

"I don't want you to go. It's not safe." She huffed. Merle laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"We'll be alrigh', doll face." He assured her.

"I'm not goin' with them. I'm goin' huntin', and I'll be back tomorrow." Daryl said, and she hugged him tightly. She kissed the underside of his chin, and she could feel shivers rack his body. She considered that she was being too forward with him, but the world had gone to shit. She needed to build relationships and become comfortable with the people she was probably going to spend the rest of her life with.

"I'll be fine." His voice was gruff and he pushed past her, causing her to feel the sting of rejection in her chest.

"Baby doll, don't you worry about us. Darylina will be fine, he's just being a bitch. And you know better than to worry about me, I'm tough as nails." Merle said, hugging her to his warm body. He smelled like cigarettes and a pungent smell that she couldn't put her finger on. "Don't worry that pretty little head. We'll both be back tomorrow for you. Promise." He kissed her hair and strolled to the van where everyone else was waiting.

"C'mon Samantha, you can come do laundry with me." Carol suggested, smiling at the younger girl. She obliged and helped Carol scrub the sweat covered laundry before hanging them up on the tree branches to dry.

After what felt like days, the group came back. They had somehow, by the grace of God, found Lori's husband in Atlanta, and the reunion between the family was sweet as hell. Samantha felt tears burning in the back of her eyes. But then she realized that someone was missing. "Excuse me, where the hell is Merle?" She demanded, and everyone looked at her.

"Samantha .." Andrea started. She may have not liked Merle, but she knew how Samantha felt about those boys.

"It was his own fault. He was a danger to himself and all of us." Lori's husband, Rick Grimes, butted in and said. She gave him a sharp look.

"Merle may seem threatening, but he wouldn't hurt anyone. It's not how he is." T-Dog chuckled darkly, but She decided to ignore it. Samantha stomped off, super pissed at everyone, and went and sat in my tent that was beside the Dixon brother's.

That night at dinner, it was pretty silent.

Amy sat beside Samantha, her head on her shoulder. "Samantha, are you in love with Merle?" She sneered her nose up at the thought, causing Amy to giggle.

"Oh, no! I could never like him that like. He's .. Merle. I love him like a best friend, because that's all he is to me." She gave me a sly grin.

"What about Daryl?" Samantha felt her cheeks burn, and she turned her head to the side. "You like Daryl!" She squealed, shaking Samantha's arm.

"So, what if I do? It's not like he ever notices me." She retorted, scooping up another spoonful of beans and shoving them in her mouth. They were lukewarm, but they eased the pain in her empty stomach.

"Are you kidding me? He's always staring at you. He watches you all the time. It's obvious that he likes you!" She scoffed. Daryl wasn't the type to really like anyone. He was so withdrawn and he seemed awkward around women. He was nothing like his brother. Samantha decided not to comment, and instead kept her focus on the beans in front of her. "I saw you kiss his neck earlier." She continued.

"Amy! Why were you watching us?" Samantha exclaimed, making her giggle.

"I don't have anything interesting going on in my life, watching you all is like a soap opera." Samantha rolled her eyes at the younger girl. Nosy child.

"Speaking of Daryl Dixon, has anyone thought about how we were going to tell him that you left his brother handcuffed to the roof of a building, left to be walker bait?" Dale asked, and most people looked at Samantha.

"No, it's not going to be me. I didn't handcuff my best damn friend to a roof and leave him to be eaten alive." She said. "You all are going to have to deal with that. I'm going to go to bed." she said, scooping the last bit of beans in her mouth and throwing the paper plate in the fire.

They didn't realize how angry Daryl was going to be when he found out that his brother was gone, and she felt a pang in her chest when she thought about it. Merle was the only family that he had left. She knew how it felt to be alone, and it was painful. She laid her head on her pillow and sighed, praying to whatever Gods that would listen to her that the Dixon brothers would both come home safe.


	3. Tell it to the Frogs

The night was rough, and Samantha could barely sleep. When she woke up the next morning, there was no one else awake, and the campsite was eerily quiet. The sun was barely peeking out over the trees. She stretched and opened the zipper to her tent, allowing the fresh air to enter. She laid back down on her sleeping bag, waiting until someone else woke up. Not too long after she woke up, she heard movement and peeked her head out of the tent. Carol was sitting by the smoldering embers from the night before, folding the now dry laundry.

"Good morning, Carol. Do you need any help?" Samantha offered, walking over to the woman, but she shook her head. The blonde sat down next to Carol and grabbed a few articles of her own clothing so she wouldn't waste time folding hers.

"Are you okay?" She asked Samantha, and she shrugged her shoulders in response. She didn't want to take any anger out on Carol, because she was the sweetest woman.

"It's just hard right now. Daryl could be lying dead in the woods, and Merle could be dead on that roof, and here I am, folding laundry." She placed a motherly hand on the blonde's shoulder, and she smiled down at it. Affection was a rare thing nowadays, and it was always nice to have someone that cared how you felt.

"Those men are tough as hell. I have faith in them. Especially Daryl." Samantha knew that they were tough, but they couldn't fight off a horde of walkers if they got surrounded. It was impossible.

"But Merle is handcuffed to the roof. If walkers get to him, he can't fight them off. He'll die." Carol looked at the young woman sympathetically. She knew that it was true.

Everyone slowly began to rise once the sun started getting higher. The men were stripping apart Glenn's shiny, stolen, red car, and Lori was hanging newly washed clothes up on the line. "I've been thinking about the man we left behind." Samantha heard Rick mutter to Lori.

"You're not serious." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. A surge of anger rushed through Samantha. Before she could respond, Shane pulled up in his Jeep, bringing water for the group. A loud scream pierced through the air, causing everyone to spring into action. The sound was obviously a child, and from the sound of it, it sounded like Sophia. Carol looked terrified, and we all sprinted towards the sound.

A walker was chewing apart a deer, ripping the animals flesh and muscle from its body. Lori wrapped her arms around Carl. "Nothing bit you? Nothing scratched you?" He shook his head and the woman sighed in relief.

Everyone began beating it with various objects, but the fucker refused to stop. After they cut the walker's head off, it began to still move. Another noise was heard coming through the trees, and Samantha braced herself, ready to fight off a walker.

Daryl Dixon came out of the woods. "Oh, Jesus." Dale muttered, and Samantha gave the old man a look and rolled her blue eyes.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer! It's all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" He was kicking the hell out of it. Samantha couldn't focus on anything else other than Daryl. The relief was probably visible on her face as she stared at him, happy that he was alive. He held up the squirrel that he had managed to snag, and then noticed the moving walker head. He rolled his eyes and shot it in the head, the arrow making a sickening _squelch_ as it entered the flesh. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't ya'll know nothing?"

He walked back to the camp, yelling for Merle. "Merle, get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel, let's stew 'em up!" Samantha ran after him, grabbing at his arm. "Sam." He said, looking down at her sad blue eyes. "What the hell's wrong wit ya?"

"Daryl, slow down. Need to talk to ya." Shane said.

"Bout what?" He asked, and Samantha took a deep breath. She knew a storm was coming. "Bout Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta."

"He dead?" Shane shrugged.

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he aint!" Daryl argued, and then Rick cut in. Daryl was mocking and had no respect towards him, and he jumped at Rick, but Shane tackled Daryl to the ground. Daryl pulled out a knife, but Shane got him in a choke hold. "Choke holdin's illegal."

"Two against one isn't fair." Samantha groaned, but the men ignored her.

"Your brother does not work or play well with others." Rick told him, and T-Dog told him that he dropped the key down a drain.

"Hell wit all y'all! Just tell me where he is so I can go get him." He shouted, his voice cracking.

"He'll show you." Lori said, gesturing to Rick. "Isn't that right?"

"I'm going back." Rick agreed. Daryl stomped off, and Sam followed behind him.

"Daryl, come here!" She said, hugging him tight. He didn't say anything, and he didn't hug her back, but she didn't let go. "He's not my brother, but he was my friend. It's not fair, I know."

"Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked Rick.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully!" Daryl shouted at him, and Sam nodded my head in agreement. "You might hate Merle, but he doesn't deserve this. No one deserves this." She said quietly, and Rick gave her an odd look.

"You really care about Merle." He stated.

"He's my best friend. Other than this big lug here." She joked, nudging Daryl with her elbow to try to relieve tension, but he just scowled at her.

"We left him like an animal in a trap. And that's no way for anyone to die, animal or human being." Rick said.

"So, you and Daryl? That's your plan?" Rick stared at Glenn, who reluctantly agreed. T-Dog also volunteered to go.

"Obviously, I'm going." Sam stepped closer to Daryl and put her hand on his arm. He stared down at her incredulously.

"Tha hell you are! Ya think I'm gonna let ya go out there and get yaself killed? Merle would kill me." She scowled at him.

"Daryl, I know you want me to be safe, but I'll go nuts if I'm here without both of you again." His expression seemed to soften, but she didn't think anything of it. She thought that she was just imagining things.

"Stay here, Samantha. I mean it." He said. She stomped off, furious and pissed at everyone. Arguing with a Dixon was like arguing with a wall, and she knew that she wouldn't win this fight.

"Come on! Let's go!" Daryl hollered. She stormed back to her tent and plopped down on the ground, fuming inside. She sat on the hard ground for a few minutes before taking a deep breath. Sitting around wasn't going to make a difference either, so she decided to find Carol.

Shane and Carl were down by the water, trying to catch frogs. The women were sitting by the creek back, with Ed sat on the bed of the truck, watching them.

"I do miss my Maytag." Carol sighed, looking at all the clothes around them as Sam sat down.

"I miss my Bens, my Sat Nav." Andrea said.

"I miss my coffeemaker, with that dual-drip filter and built in grinder, honey." Jacqui told us, ringing the water out of a shirt.

"My computer, texting." Amy said, and Sam nodded my head in agreement.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea admitted, and Sam busted out laughing. Carol exclaimed, and Jacqui gave her a scandalous look.

"Me too." Carol said, looking around to make sure Ed wasn't around. That caused everyone to laugh even louder. Apparently, that bothered Ed, because he came down the hill, huffing as he quickly ran out of breath.

"What's so funny?" He asked, puffing on his cigarette.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea said, making everyone giggle again. Ed gave her a sharp look. "Problem, Ed?"

"Nothing that concerns you. Maybe you should focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Sam's blood started to boil, but he continued to run that mouth of his. Andrea couldn't put up with it anymore, and she got in his face.

He tried to make Carol come with him, but we wouldn't allow it. He grabbed Carol's arm and tried to pull her away, and then smacked her in the face. Andrea and Samantha jumped towards him, yelling and screaming. He tried to hit Andrea, and Sam went to retaliate and hit back, but he grabbed her wrist. Shane showed up then, grabbing Ed and throwing him to the ground.

Sam grabbed Carol and hugged her tightly, inspecting the side of her face. "Carol, honey, are you okay?" She asked, but she was too busy crying. Red fingerprints were evident on her face, and she grasped at it in pain. Shane had Ed pinned down on the ground, pounding his face like a slab of meat.

"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, Samantha, or anybody else in this camp, I will not stop next time, do you hear me?" Sam didn't hear Ed's response, but she knew he wouldn't argue. "I'll beat ya to death, Ed."

Carol went running over to her husband, apologizing profusely. Her lip was bleeding slightly, but it was nothing compared to Ed's destroyed face. Samantha rubbed her wrist, looking down at it self-consciously. She hoped that it wouldn't bruise, because Daryl would shit if he saw bruises on her from that pig of a man. She knew what would happen if he found out.

Daryl would kill Ed.


	4. Vatos

Samantha awoke the next morning to find Jim digging a bunch of deep holes. "What the hell?" Samantha muttered to herself, slipping a thin jacket on over her pajama shirt and throwing her blonde hair up into a long ponytail Dale was standing on top of the RV, watching Jim's odd actions with his binoculars. "Dale, what is he doing?" She asked. The older man shook his head, the stress evident in his face.

"I couldn't tell you, but we need to find out. We need to tell Shane." The two climbed down from the top of the RV and found Shane quickly. "Shane, we need to talk to you about something." Dale said.

"Jim's being real weird. He's digging holes. Like, big, deep holes." Samantha told him, wanting to get straight to the point. There was no point for them to beat around the bush, they needed to take of this. Shane groaned and rubbed the back of his neck before running his hands through his dark hair.

"Holes? Why the hell is he digging holes?" Shane asked incredulously. The pair shrugged. "Well, let's go find out." Everyone followed him up the hill. "Hey, Jim. Why don't you hold up? We're concerned. You've been out here for hours." Jim stopped digging.

"So?" Jim scoffed.

"Why are you digging?" Shane asked, seeming irritated. "Are you heading to China?"

"I'm not hurting anyone." Jim defended himself, continuing to dig, deciding to ignore us. Samantha sighed.

"It's too hot to be out here doing this. You're gonna pass out." She told him gently.

"I'm just gonna say it. You're scaring people. My son and Carol's daughter." Lori told him sternly.

"There ain't nothing to be scared of. What the hell, I'm just out here by myself. Why don't y'all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Shane asked him to stop shoveling long enough to take a break, and he started to get angry.

He brought up Carol's husband, and it seemed to make him madder. They began to fight over the shovel, and Shane had him pinned to the ground. "Jim, that was a completely different scenario. He was hurting Carol, and he grabbed me." Samantha said, defending Shane's actions. While she normally wouldn't condone beating the shit out of someone, Ed deserved it. Her hand instinctively rubbed her sore wrist, which thankfully didn't bruise.

"No one is gonna hurt you." Shane said.

"That's a lie. Biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and two boys a hundred times, but it didn't matter. They came out of nowhere, there were dozens of them. Just pulled them right out of my hands. The only reason I got away was because the dead were too busy eating my family." Jim told us, and Samantha's heart began to ache for him. That was so sad. That poor man had everything ripped away from him, right in front of him.

They tied Jim to a tree so he would have no choice but to settle down and rest. By the looks of the holes, he had been digging for a long time. It had to at least been a few hours before someone noticed it or said anything. Shane offered him some water and poured a bit on his head to cool him down. Jim closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the cold water on his sweaty face. He drank greedily as Shane held it out for him, and he sighed contently when he finished. "Sorry if I scared your boy and little girl." He told Lori and Carol.

"You have sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you." Lori said casually, but Jim still looked upset.

"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked, smiling when Sophia told him no. Carl continued to do his homework.

"Jim, do you know why you were digging?" Dale asked.

"Do you want to tell us?" Samantha asked, squatting down near him. She smiled gently at him, trying to urge him to talk.

"I had a reason but now I can't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it, and so were you." Jim said, and then he started trying to reassure Carl that his father would be fine. "And Samantha, we all know that those Dixon's are tough as shit. Too stubborn to die anyway." She gave him a tight-lipped smile. She hadn't thought about the Dixon's since they had started worrying about Jim. It had been a good distraction for her.

Shane grabbed the bucket of fish to go clean them, and Carl and Sophia jumped at the chance to go help. Sam decided to go in the RV with Andrea, who was looking for something to put her sister's birthday gift in. Amy's birthday was tomorrow, and Andrea had snatched a gorgeous little mermaid necklace for her in Atlanta. "That's so pretty." Sam said, fingering the piece of jewelry. Andrea smiled.

"She loves fantasies. Mermaids are her favorite." She told her, and the two shared a quiet moment together. "Let me see if I can help you find a little gift bag. Dale has so much junk in here, he has to have something for a birthday gift." Samantha said, nudging the blonde woman and making her laugh.

That night at dinner, they all sat around the campfire. They were interrogating Dale about his watch. "I like what a father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down for generations. He said, "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my fathers before me. I give it to you, not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it now and then, and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it.""

"You are so weird." Amy finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

"It's not me, it's-" Sam cut him off.

"Faulkner." Dale looked proud and nodded, giving her a big grin. Amy stood up to go to the bathroom. When she came back, she held open the door and exclaimed, "We're out of toilet paper?" Sam giggled. Such a trivial thing to worry about in the apocalypse.

Sam's smile dropped instantly when a walker came around the RV and sunk his teeth into the flesh of Amy's arm. No one had time to warn her or even process what was happening. She screamed loudly and the group jumped up, weapons ready. Walkers were coming from all over now, and Shane began shooting at every one he could.

Samantha didn't know what to do, she felt so helpless. The gears in her head were working too fast for her to focus. Amy was dead. Just like that. A walker came snarling from behind her, but she was too out of it to move. "Samantha! Move!" Shane shouted, but she didn't. "Damn it, Samantha!" He shouted again.

Just as she snapped out of it, someone shot the walker in front of her. "Sam, what tha hell are you doin? Move!" The familiar redneck voice made her jump, and she searched frantically for him. She finally spotted him and began sprinting as fast as she could, pulling her gun out from the waistband of her shorts. Daryl grabbed her arm and pulled him into his chest, raising his crossbow again. Samantha held the gun tightly in her shaking hands. The sounds of her bullets were muffled by the adrenaline pumping in her veins, and when the final walker fell, she dropped the gun.

Amy was laying on the ground with flesh ripped away from her neck, and Andrea sat on her knees beside her. She was so bloody. Her beautiful pale skin ruined. Her eyes shut as she took her last breath. Andrea sobbed loudly, calling her name.

Samantha stuck to Daryl's side like glue, her face buried into his chest as she cried with her. He had his arm protectively wrapped around her, holding her protectively against his muscular body. The smell of blood and gore were beginning to sting her nose and burn her eyes, and she felt her stomach lurch as she looked at the mess around her.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes." Jim said ominously. Samantha looked around, making eye contact with everyone, trying to make sure everyone was still alive. Rick, Lori, Shane, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Glenn. Her head was spinning as she looked around, and then she let out a defeated sigh.

They didn't have Merle with them. She grabbed Daryl's arm, making him look down at her. "Merle?" She asked, and his face twisted up into a grimace. "God dammit!" She cried out, assuming the worst. Her fist thudded against Daryl's chest hard with anger.

Someone is out to get me, she thought. She didn't know if it was God, or maybe she had too much bad karma, but someone was taking away the only things that made her happy. She prayed that Daryl wasn't next.


	5. Wildfire

Andrea was crouched next to the body of her dead sister, and Lori sat down beside her, casting a look at Samantha over her shoulder. "Andrea, I'm sorry. She's gone. You need to let us take her. We all loved her, and we'll do this gently." Andrea didn't say anything, and she didn't even look away from Amy's face, so Lori gave up and walked away.

Daryl and the rest of the guys were hitting the dead walkers in the head with sharp objects, making sure it was impossible for them to come back. It was gross and gory, and Samantha had to look away. They were carrying the bodies and throwing them in piles. The smell was unbearable, and she covered her nose with her hand. The stench made her eyes water and her stomach churn. She had to fight the feeling to throw up.

Rick walked up, noticing that Andrea hadn't moved. He walked over to her and bent down to talk to her, but she pulled her gun out on him quickly., making him jump. "I know how the safety works." She said quietly, and Rick backed up.

"Andrea, honey, it'll be okay." Samantha sat down beside her. Andrea didn't look at her, but she lowered the gun, which was a good sign. Samantha kept her eye on the weapon, not wanting Andrea to catch her off guard. "We really did love Amy. Of course, it wasn't as much as you loved her. You two were sisters, and that's something that no one can compete with. But we need to handle this soon. She could hurt you." Sam told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't think you can handle doing it yourself, you let me know."

Daryl was furiously talking about Amy. "She's a time bomb. I say we take tha shot." Samantha scoffed and nudged the redneck in the side, but he pushed her shoulder in return. "Don't give me tha' shit. Yah jus' wanna sit there an' let her come back?" He hollered, but Samantha ignored him. She didn't want Amy to come back as a walker.

"For God's sakes, let her be." Daryl, Shane and Rick exchanged glances.

They continued to pick up dead bodies, and Daryl went to throw one of the bodies of one of our friends in the pile with the walkers. Glenn started yelling, "That pile is for the geeks! We don't burn our people! We bury them! _We bury them._ " He sounded so distraught, and Samantha put her hand on his arm in comfort.

"We won't burn our people, Glenn. I promise. I'll make sure of it." She gave Daryl a stern look, but he just rolled his eyes. Glenn told him which pile the body should go in, and he scoffed.

"Ya' reap what ya' sew." Someone yelled at him to shut up, and he threw down his pick axe. "Yah left my brother fer dead! Ya'll all had this comin'!" He stomped off angrily, and Sam followed behind him.

"Daryl, I know you're pissed about Merle, but that's not why this happened. We didn't lose all of these innocent people because of their mistakes. This is just what happens now. The world is a shitty place, and we have to deal with it." She told him, grabbing his hand. He ripped his hand away and kept walking, causing her to sigh in irritation. Daryl was a ticking time bomb too, and no one ever knows what could set him off. She made her way back to the camp, deciding that it would be better if he cooled off on his own.

She heard Jacqui yelling about Jim before she even made it back to the camp. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears. "A walker bit Jim!" She yelled at Daryl, who quickly turned on his heel and came running back, looking angry. He ran up to Jim, demanding to see his bite. He had a large, angry bite wound on his stomach, and Samantha closed her eyes. She couldn't believe that they were going to lose someone else.

"I say we put a pick axe in his head and the dead girl's." Daryl said, and she heard a murmur pass through the members of the group.

"Is that how you would want it?" Shane scoffed.

"Yeah, and I'd thank ya while ya did it." Daryl retorted, and the thought made Samantha's stomach turn. She didn't know if she could put a bullet in Daryl's head, even if he asked her too. They grabbed Jim, and Dale went over to Andrea and Amy.

Samantha sat on her ass beside Andrea, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Happy birthday, Amy. You were a beautiful soul, and I'll never forget you." Samantha muttered, running a hand over the dead girl's knotted blonde hair. Andrea pulled out her mermaid necklace and put it around Amy's neck, bringing a sad smile to her face. Behind them, Carol had approached the body of her dead husband, pick axe in hand. They heard the familiar _squelching_ sound as the metal crushed through his skull and into his brain, over and over and over.

Andrea and Samantha watched Amy closely, and Andrea bent down over her face. She was making sounds. She was coming back. Andrea gave Samantha a look, and she nodded. "It's time." She said.

Amy opened her eyes, and they were eerily beautiful. A pale, glossy blue had replaced her previous baby blues. Her skin was pale and covered with her own blood. "Amy, I'm sorry." Andrea kept repeating, and Amy reached up for her. She tangled her fingers in her hair and kept pulling Andrea's head towards her open mouth.

"Andrea.." Samantha whispered, feeling anxiety rising in her chest. Was she going to let Amy bite her?

"I love you." She cried out before shooting her baby sister in the head. Samantha reached over and wrapped her arms around Andrea, holding her as she cried. After a few minutes, she helped Andrea wrap her body up in a sheet, and together, they drug her lifeless body to a grave. Andrea was persistent about putting her sister in the grave on her own, and Samantha sat back, letting the sister struggle on her own.

Since Amy was no longer a threat to the camp, they decide to take care of the next threat. Jim. He was holed up in the RV, sweating profusely and throwing up. The bite was starting to take its toll on him, and it was obvious that he was suffering immensely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That evening, the remainder of the group sat around the smoldering fire pit. "I trust Rick's instincts. We need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning." Shane said in an ominous voice.

Early the next morning, everyone stood around the vehicles. "We're not going. We have family in Birmingham. I have to do the best for my family." Rick gave Morales a gun and ammo, making Daryl scoff. Samantha hugged the family before they left, giving them well wishes.

She leaned against Daryl's shoulder. "Can I ride with you?" Sam asked him, and he stared down at her.

"Yah don't wanna ride in tha RV?" She shook her head.

"I need to be with you. You make me feel safe. Besides, I can't sit in the RV with Jim in there moaning like that." She admitted quietly, keeping her head down. He sighed and agreed, nodding his head in the direction of his truck.

"Let's go."

They didn't get very far until Dale began having trouble with the RV and its damn hose. "This piece of shit is more trouble than it's worth." Sam complained, kicking at the tire. Daryl placed a hand on her head. "Stop." She pouted, feeling like a scolded child. She knew that she was being childish, but she was tired and hungry and wanted to get a move on.

Jacqui came running towards the RV, giving Daryl and Sam a report on Jim. Sam opened the door to the RV slowly, peeking in at Jim. "Jim? How ya feelin' buddy?" She asked, sitting down next to him. "My bones are like glass. Every little bump .. It's killing me. Leave me here. I'm done. Leave me. I want to be with my family." She nodded her head. She knew that his family had passed since the beginning of the outbreak.

But in the end, the decision was clear. They needed to respect his wishes. Shane and Rick placed him against a tree, and he smiled at everyone. "Breeze feels nice." The sweat shone on his forehead and dripped off his chin.

After everyone said their goodbyes, he refused to take the gun that Rick was offering. It was heart wrenching for Samantha to get back in Daryl's truck and ride away, leaving him behind. He smiled with his head upturned to the sky, and Sam watched him through the side mirror, smiling in return. She wanted to remember him with that smile on his face.

Samantha sighed as she sat in the passenger seat of the truck, and Daryl looked over at her. He gently placed his hand on her knee and patted it awkwardly. She smiled down at it before shyly peeking at him through her long lashes, and she let out a nervous giggle. She placed her hand on top of his, and that's exactly how they stayed the whole ride, with the wind blowing through their hair and hidden smiles on their faces.


	6. TS-19

When the group arrived at the Center for Disease Control, there were corpses everywhere. Smelly, rotten, maggot covered corpses. Rick hesitantly made his way to the building, with everyone behind him with weapons ready. Samantha covered her nose and stayed close to Daryl, not wanting to get caught off guard or get separated. With the amount of bodies littering the ground, she assumed the military had come and shot them all down.

There was no sign of life anywhere at the CDC. "You led us to a graveyard!" Daryl yelled. Everyone was so busy arguing and screaming that they didn't notice the small movement of the camera, but Rick noticed. He froze.

"Guys!" Samantha shouted, trying to pinpoint what exactly Rick was staring at so intently.

"The camera moved! I know you're in there! We're desperate, please. We have women, children, no food, no gas, nowhere to go. You're killing us! Please! _You're killing us!"_ He screamed. Just when Daryl shook his head, ready to give up hope, the door opened, revealing a bright white light.

Rick entered the building first, the others trailing behind him, nervous and excited. "Hello?" A voice yelled out. "Anyone infected?"

"One of ours was, we left his behind." Rick responded.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The voice asked.

"A chance." Rick said. He hesitated, debating on whether he should trust the tired, dirty group of strangers in front of him. His eyes flickered from face to face, as if he was looking for signs of infection and death.

"You will all submit to a blood test. If you have anything out there, go get it now. Once the door closes, it stays closed." The group ran quickly, gathering their stuff as fast as they could, not wanting to test the kind gentleman that was letting them enter his secure residence.

"Rick Grimes." Rick said, introducing himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." They all piled into the elevator, and Daryl decided to mention the doctor's large gun. "You look harmless enough. Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you." He joked, smiling down at Carl, who gave a little smirk and nodded at the blonde man. At least he was trying to make one of us feel comfortable.

Everyone submitted to the blood test, and Samantha thought that it didn't hurt. She had donated blood before at the Red Cross blood drives, and she had never been bothered by blood and needles.

Andrea stood up after giving her blood sample, but she was woozy. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked. Jacqui grabbed Andrea to keep her steady, and Samantha hovered on the woman's opposite side, making sure that she didn't tip over.

"We haven't eaten in days." She told him, and he set his mouth into a thin, grim line. He didn't look like he was starving. In fact, Samantha thought that he looked quite healthy. His face had a fullness to it and nice color to his cheeks, while the rest of them were beginning to look frail and weakened.

That evening, Jenner insisted that they all sat around a large table, where they enjoyed laughing and drinking and eating. Samantha sipped at her red wine, savoring the delicious flavor. Carl wanted to try, and she laughed at his innocence. "Go ahead, Lori. What's the worst thing that could happen?" Lori gave the small blonde a little smile and they gave him half a glass of red wine. He took a drink and made a horrible face, and a chuckle broke out at the table.

"Just stick to soda pop, bud." Shane chuckled.

"Not you Glenn! I wanna see how red your face can get!" Daryl said, and Samantha laughed, her head falling over onto his shoulder. Rick stood up, tapping on his glass.

"We need to thank our host properly." They all hooted and hollered our thanks, and Jenner just shyly waved them off.

"When are you gonna tell us, what happened here?" Shane asked, and the mood instantly sobered up.

"We're celebrating. Let's not do this." Rick said calmly, and Shane continued to run his mouth.

"When things got bad, people left. When things got worse, the rest bolted, some opted out." Samantha shuddered as she understood what he meant. The ones that didn't leave ended their lives. She wondered how many people ended up committing suicide out of fear.

"You didn't leave, why?" Andrea asked.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

"Man, you're a buzz kill." Samantha said, gulping down the rest of her wine and sitting the empty glass down on the table before glaring at Shane, and Glenn agreed from behind her.

Jenner led them down the halls, showing the group the rooms and bathrooms. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He said before walking off. Glenn and Samantha shared excited glances.

"Hot water?" It was an exciting moment for Samantha. It had been a _long_ time since any of them got to enjoy a nice hot shower. She thought that it felt wonderful to wash the grime out of her long blonde hair and scrub the dirt off her skin. She had even found a razor in one of the drawers, along with a new toothbrush. By the time she was finished, she felt like a new woman. Her skin was shiny and tanned, and her hair fell in wet waves down her back.

She went to bed happily that night, enjoying the soft fabric of the couch under her clean skin. The morning came too quickly, and she had to drag myself to the kitchen. They were all quietly eating, probably suffering from hangovers, and she had to admit that her own head was pounding from the amount of wine that she had drank the night before.

"Shane, what the hell happened to your neck?" Samantha whispered, sitting down beside Daryl.

"Must've did it in my sleep." Dr. Jenner came downstairs then, and Dale stiffened.

"I don't want to badger you with questions first thing in the morning," Dale started, but Jenner cut him off.

"But you will anyway." After everyone had finished eating, he took us to one of the labs. "Playback of TS-19." He told Vi. "Only two people have ever gotten the chance to see this." He pulled up an extremely enhanced picture of a brain on the screen, and Samantha's eyes widened as she took in the image.

Lights were flickering beautifully all inside of the brain, and Sam watched with childlike wonder. "What are those lights?" Daryl asked from beside her.

"A person's life. Experiences, memories. Everything."

"Dr. Jenner, that is absolutely amazing." Sam was completed awed. He began teaching them about synapses, which she vaguely remembered learning about in her senior year anatomy class. The brain had always been a smidge too difficult for her to understand, and she remembered that she failed the test on the brain.

"This person died?" He nodded.

"Test subject 19. They were bitten. Infected. They volunteered to let us watch the process." Vi scanned to the first event, which showed the infection attacking the brain. The lights stopped. The patient died right then.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked, and Sam's heart ached for the child. She was so innocent. Andrea looked so pained, she looked like she was going to break down. Vi scanned to the second event.

"They came back." Sam whispered, noticing the small lights flickering in the brain.

He nodded. "It restarts the brain stem. Gets them up and moving." Only the stem had a flickering of red, the rest of the brain remained dark. A large beam of light shot through the patient's head, making everyone jump in shock.

"Oh God, what was that?" Carol exclaimed.

"He shot his patient in the head." Rick responded the same time Andrea did. Jenner shut down the main screen and the work stations.

"You have no idea what this is, do you?" Andrea asked, crossing her arms.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." He trailed off.

"Or the wrath of God." Jacqui said quietly.

"It could be that." He agreed. Sam sighed, feeling let down. She craved answers and solutions, but it seemed that no one knew anything. No one at the goddamned Center for Disease Control knew anything.

"Man, I wanna get shitfaced drunk. Again." Daryl said, rubbing his eyes. Glenn looked slightly nauseous at the mention of more alcohol.

"I hate to ask one more question, but that clock. Why is it counting down?" Dale asked, and that caught everyone's attention.

"When it hits zero, the basement generators run out of fuel."

"And then what?" Rick asked, but Jenner didn't answer. "Vi, what happens?" He asked again.

"Facility-wide decontamination?" Andrea repeated after Vi. That sounded shitty. Rick took off, running down the steps. The men followed them, leaving the women and children on their own. Samantha was sitting with Lori and Carl when she pointed out that the air stopped. That made her nervous. The generators must be shutting off.

She walked out into the hallway, noticing the commotion going on. Daryl started chasing after Jenner, yelling at him furiously. "Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked, and he started rambling on about the computers.

"The French were the last to hold out, that I know of. While our people ran and killed themselves, they stayed in the labs until the end." Rick told the group to go pack their things, but a loud buzzing started.

"What's going on?!" Sam screamed over the buzzing, her adrenaline pumping in her veins. Jenner locked the doors, locking everyone in the room with him. Shane and Daryl went to attack the blonde doctor, but Rick grabbed Shane and T-Dogg grabbed Daryl. If they killed him or even knocked him out, then there would be zero chance that they could get out.

"I told you once the doors closed, there was no way it would open again." Jenner was angry, he began screaming. Sam flinched back, her eyes welling with tears. What was going to happen? "We didn't know what you meant!" Andrea screeched.

VI started explaining the bombs. "It sets the air on fire. No pain, just an end." Sam cried out, " _fuck!"_ making Daryl look at her with wide blue eyes. She felt like she couldn't breathe. The reality of their situation was beginning to set in, and she was feeling claustrophobic, trapped in this tiny room with no way out.

Shane and Daryl began hitting the door with whatever they could find. Sam sat down on the ground by herself, taking calming deep breaths Sophia sat down on her lap, and she held her tightly, with Carol sitting with them, her arms wrapped around the pair. "Daryl!" She cried out, reaching for him as he walked past. He sighed, squatting down next to her. "What are we going to do?"

"Listen Sam, don't break down on me. We will get out of here." He told me, and she took in a big gulp of air, trying to calm down. Panicking wasn't going to help her any. She was a strong woman, she could make it through this.

"I need Merle." She choked out, and Daryl bit at his thumb.

"He ain't here. But yah got me." He held her hand tightly for a split second, before getting back up to argue with Jenner. He needed to get them out.

Shane shot the computers, the lights, everything he could. "Are you done?" Rick yelled.

"I guess we all are." Shane mumbled. Sam stood up, pulling Sophia up with her. The little girl stood in between Sam and her mother, holding their hands. Jenner revealed to the group that the test subject was his wife.

Rick and Jenner talked quietly, and then Jenner whispered in his ear. Finally, he opened the doors. Sam kept her eyes on Jacqui, who was refusing to leave. "Jacqui!" Sam yelled, running over to give the woman a hug. "I can't do it anymore. I can't fight. It's not worth it." She told Sam, rubbing a hand soothingly over her hair. "Sam! Come on!" Daryl yelled, Andrea refused to leave as well, but Dale was staying behind to talk to her. She didn't get to see what happened between the two because Daryl gripped her arm tightly, right where Ed had done a few days prior. "Let's GO!" He dragged her behind him, leading her quickly out of the lab.

However, the main doors were still locked tight. They hit the windows with chairs, hell, they even shot at it. "I have something that might help." Carol pulled a grenade out and gave it to Rick. Where the hell did Carol get a grenade? Daryl pulled Sam behind him, shielding her body from the blast with his own. She covered her ears as the grenade hit the doors, the noise causing the ground to shake, and once the blast had cleared, they took off.

Daryl and Sam hid behind his truck, breathing heavily. "Look!" Lori shouted, pointing towards the CDC. Andrea and Dale ran out, causing Daryl to exhale deeply and Sam to close her eyes, thanking whoever was listening to her prayers. Not moments after they made it out, the inside went up into flames, causing the large building to completely be engulfed in fire. The smoke filled the air quickly, and Samantha quickly slid into Daryl's truck.

She panted heavily, before looking over at Daryl. "Damn." She breathed out, and he nodded, panting just as hard as she was. The cars all drove off quickly, knowing that the blast would attract walkers. Samantha pulled her knees up to her chest and placed her head on them.

"Is there anywhere safe around here?" She asked Daryl, and he hesitated.

"No. I don' think there is. Nowhere is safe anymore."


	7. What Lies Ahead

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead, I only own Samantha! I hope people are enjoying the story, leave some reviews and let me know! This is the first episode of season two, "What Lies Ahead."

Samantha thought that it was rough not having a camp to stay in, and it was hard living out of the group's vehicles. Daryl had abandoned the truck, so now Samantha rode in the RV with Dale and the others. She missed the personal time with Daryl, and she found comfort in his presence.

Shane sat in the RV with Samantha and a few others after abandoning his jeep, and he was showing Andrea and Sam how to clean a gun. "That looks really hard." She commented, furrowing her eyebrows as she watched him do it with such ease. He shrugged.

"It's not bad. You just gotta get used to it." The RV stopped in the middle of the highway because it was completely blocked off with broken down vehicles. The mess of cars was so thick that it was impossible to drive around, and the RV began to sputter and slow to a stop. Samantha took a deep breath and sighed. They didn't seem to have much luck these days. Since the group wasn't going to be making any progress, they decided to search the cars for anything that might be useful.

"Look for food, water, medicine, clothes. Anythin' we can use." Rick said, searching a Chevy Cavalier with a busted windshield.

Daryl began rummaging through an old looking Mustang. "We can find plenty of stuff here." He said. Everyone split up then, and Samantha slid into the driver's seat of a Chevy truck that was already open. There was half a bottle of Pepsi in the cup holder and a bottle of Tylenol in the glove compartment. Once she was done with the truck, she moved on. Some of the vehicles still had bodies in them, but thank God, the majority of them were empty. Samantha saw one vehicle that had a car seat in the back, splattered with large amounts of dried blood. Her stomach lurched, and she moved away as she began to gag. However, she had nothing in her stomach except the swig of flat Pepsi she had drank, so the only thing she could do was dry heave.

"It's okay. Better than them sufferin' in this shitty world." Daryl said, bumping Samantha as he walked by. She sniffed, trying to ignore the tears filling her eyes. She took a deep breath and continued to search cars. T-Dog helped her pry open a trunk on a beat up blue Volkswagen, and they found a grocery bag with a few cans of pinto beans, chicken noodle soup, and Chef Boyardee ravioli. There was a small first aid kit in the trunk as well, along with a blanket and set of jumper cables. She decided to grab those as well and store them in the RV, because there was a good chance that they would need them with their luck.

"Get down! Get under the cars!" Samantha heard Rick shout as she stepped out of the RV, and she dropped down and rolled under the closest car. T-Dog groaned loudly a few cars over, but she didn't dare move from her spot. Walkers began shuffling along beside her, and the stench became overwhelming. She covered her mouth and nose with her hand, trying to breathe as quietly as possible.

The groans were loud as the hoard made their way past and they made Samantha shudder. Where was Daryl? She couldn't see him from where she was laying, and her heart was pounding loudly in her chest.

That's when she saw T-Dog stumble past, holding his arm tightly. She could see blood dripping from his arm down to the asphalt. She felt the urge to help him, but she couldn't risk it.

The number of footsteps started to decrease, and Samantha prayed that the hoard was gone. She peeked out from under her car and didn't see anything, so she slid out. A high pitched scream filled the air.

Poor little Sophia was being chased by two walkers, and she was running as fast as she could to get away. "Sophia!" Samantha screeched, going to run after the little girl. Rick went after her also, but he made it farther than Samantha did. When she went to hop over the guard rail, her foot got caught and she hit the ground. She could feel the blood begin to run down her chin from where the impact busted her lip open.

"Ugh, damn it!" She shouted, pounding her fist against the ground. "Sam! Are you okay?" Glenn asked, climbing over the guard rail on the side of the road.

"Yeah, my foot got stuck and I tripped. I'm fine." He helped her up off the ground and she dusted myself off. "Sophia!" She exclaimed, and she caught sight of Carol. The woman had sunk to the ground, her sobs racking her body and making her shoulders shake.

Glenn helped Sam back over the guard rail, and Daryl was quick to check on her. "Ya okay?" His voice was gruff and he wouldn't meet her eyes. He had his thumb up to his mouth as he bit at the skin and nail.

"I'm fine. Seriously, it was just an accident." He nodded. "Yer bleedin." He wiped the blood off of her chin with his index finger and wiped it onto his dirty jeans, and Samantha gulped.

Rick came back not too long after he left, and a search party was formed. He retraced his steps back to where he left the tiny girl, but she wasn't there. That didn't surprise Samantha. She was young and scared, she wasn't going to sit there by herself.

"All she had to do was keep going straight. She veered off that way." Daryl said, crouching low to the ground, inspecting the visible footprints.

"Well she was probably scared and confused. Maybe something spooked her." Samantha suggested, and the others agreed. Rick suggested that Shane, Glenn, and Sam should go back to the highway while Daryl and himself continued the search.

"Are you sure?" Samantha asked, and Daryl nodded.

"Go look through the cars. Find somethin' for us to eat." Daryl told her. She nodded, giving him a small smile as she walked away.

There was nothing special in the first few cars, but she continued to search and found a brand-new bag of teriyaki beef jerky and a box of graham crackers. She grabbed them and the unopened Gatorade that was in the back seat and carried them back to the group.

They didn't notice Samantha because Carl was too busy showing them what he had found, which was an arsenal full of knives and axes. He was obviously excited and proud of his spoils, but he was quickly shut down as Shane refused to let him keep them. The boy rolled his eyes and took the weapons to Dale like he was told, and Lori stepped towards Shane.

Samantha rolled her own eyes as she watched the pair argue. She thought that Lori needed to leave Shane alone and worry about her husband and son. She continued to search cars, trying to keep to herself.

The sun was beginning to set and Rick and Daryl weren't back yet, and Carol was watching nervously from the guard rail. Samantha stood beside her at the guard rail. "Carol, if anyone can find Sophia, it'll be Daryl Dixon. He's really great at tracking, he can find her in no time." She tried to reassure the worried mother.

"Look! They're back." Glenn pointed out, and Rick and Daryl came walking up the hill. Sophia wasn't with them.

"Is that blood?" Carol panted, her voice panicked. Daryl was covered in blood. Why was he always covered in blood?

"We took down a walker. But he wasn't near Sophia." She shook her head, not wanting to believe his words.

"How do you know that?" She cried.

"We cut the sum'bitch open and made sure." Daryl said quietly, and Samantha felt her stomach lurch. Carol's knees went weak and she sat down on the guard rail.

"How could you leave her out there?" She shouted at Rick, panting loudly. "She's just a child! She can't be out there alone!" Rick looked very upset at being blamed, and Samantha felt pity for the man. He did the best that he could. He did everything that he could have done.

He stood up, looking regretful. Carol sat on the guard rail and cried, and Samantha wrapped my arm around her tightly. Lori was on the other side of the woman and Andrea was squatted in front of us, her hands placed reassuringly on Carol's knee.

The next morning, Rick gave us all weapons from the arsenal, but Shane refused to give us guns, which pissed Andrea off. "Does it not bother you?" She asked Samantha, who shrugged in return.

"I guess as long as I have a weapon, I'll be fine." She retorted, picking up a hatchet. "I'm not too happy that they would have to get so close for me to kill them, but at least I have something." She didn't look happy with that answer.

"Chances are, Sophia is by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl said, setting a plan for us to go search for her. Lori and Rick both agreed that Carl could go with us this time, and the determination on his face to find his friend was admirable.

"C'mon buddy. Let's go find Sophia." Samantha said, ruffling his hair. He laughed and smacked her hand away, and in return she pulled him close to her side in a tight hug. She had a fondness for the young boy, and he tugged at her heartstrings.

In the woods, the search team found a tent that was somehow still up. "Sophia, it's mommy.." Carol called out quietly, and Daryl bent down slowly. He unzipped it and looked inside, only to reveal a very smelly, very decomposed corpse. The smell was unbearable, and Samantha covered her nose to prevent herself from vomiting.

"Daryl?" Carol called out.

"Ain't her." He responded, and then they heard what sounded like church bells ringing. Daryl took off quickly into the direction of the church and the rest followed behind. When they arrived, there were no ringing bells. Speakers hung from the side of the building and the sounds were blaring from them. Rick carefully opened the church door and entered.

Samantha hung back at first until she noticed Carol went back in the church after everyone had left and she decided to follow. She sat in the very back pew, her eyes closing and her hands clasping on her lap. She wasn't sure how to even start the prayer. She hadn't prayed for so long, she felt awkward trying to start again.

Rick walked in, not noticing Sam in the back pew. He stood in front of the statue of Jesus and removed his hat, speaking quietly. His words left goosebumps on her flesh, and on his way out, he noticed the young girl. He offered his hang to her as he walked past her pew, and she took it gratefully.

They continued to trek through the woods, but to no avail. There was no sign of little Sophia. Daryl took Carol back to the highway, she was having a hard time keeping up with the group. She was a mess of emotions and she needed to rest.

"Look!" Samantha whispered loudly, pointing at the beautiful deer that she could faintly see through the trees. Rick smiled and nudged Carl, getting his attention. Shane raised his gun to kill it, but Carl stepped forward.

It was beautiful to watch. The animal was so innocent in this hellacious world. Carl walked slowly towards it, and it didn't even notice him until he stepped on a branch, but even then, it didn't run. "So, sweet." Samantha muttered, and Rick agreed beside her.

Carl smiled happily at the animal, the joy in his eyes evident and he took one more step towards it.

A loud sound echoed through the trees, and Samantha gasped.

Carl hit the ground, along with the deer. Blood seeped through his camouflage shirt. Samantha's air caught in her throat as her brain caught up with what she had just seen.

Someone had shot Carl Grimes.


	8. Bloodletting

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead! I only own Samantha.

This will take place during the second episode of season two, "Bloodletting."

Rick hoisted his son up and began running, while the large man that shot Carl was trying to tell him how to get to his home. Samantha sprinted alongside Rick, running with ease. She had always been a great runner, due to her running cross country in high school. Rick was panting heavily, and Shane was running alongside them. Samantha felt like she had been running forever until they finally saw the large white house in the clearing. An older gentleman was out on the porch, and he jumped up when he saw Carl.

"Was he bit?" The man asked, and Rick shook his head.

"Shot, by your man." He replied. "Please, help my son!" He exclaimed, running towards the porch. The older man led them into the house, yelling for his supplies and kit. A woman that Samantha assumed was his wife began grabbing equipment, and the white-haired man directed Rick to a bedroom.

He laid Carl down on the bed. "Is he dead? Is he dead?" Rick kept repeating, the panic evident in his voice. The gentleman checked his heartbeat. "It's faint, but it's there." He replied. Rick was sent out of the room, and Samantha followed him. Shane was leaning against the wall.

Samantha kept her hand on his lower back, letting him know that she was there to comfort him. Shane wiped the blood off Rick's forehead, and Sam calmly rubbed his back. Otis informed us that the old man's name was Hershel.

"What's his blood type?" Hershel asked, peeking his head out of the bedroom.

"A positive. Same as mine." Rick replied, and Sam raised her hand.

"Mine is A positive as well." Hershel nodded.

"That's very fortunate. You both need to stick around, I'll need you. Now, what happened?" He asked. Otis explained how he shot the buck and the bullet went clean through the deer and into Carl. Hershel then informed them that the bullet didn't enter Carl and leave cleanly. It broke into very tiny, very dangerous fragments of shrapnel in his small body.

"Lori. She doesn't know. My wife doesn't know, she doesn't know." He kept repeating, beginning to sob. The three went and sat in the living room for a while, giving the family time to work on the small boy. Rick leaned forward, his head in his hands. "I should've stopped him."

"Oh, Rick. You didn't know this was going to happen. It's not your fault." Samantha told him, sitting down next to him on the couch. He shook his head, not wanting to hear her words. He was overwhelmed with guilt, she could see it in his face.

Hershel's oldest daughter, Maggie, came running out of the bedroom. "Rick, Samantha! We need blood, quickly!" She exclaimed, calling them into the room. Carl was writhing and screaming as he laid on the bed, his tiny body arching in pain. Hershel made Shane help hold him down.

Rick watched helplessly as they dug around in the boy's flesh, making him scream louder. "Stop! You're killing him!" Rick roared, and Sam grabbed his arm so he wouldn't reach out and touch Hershel. His wife grabbed ahold of Sam's tanned arm.

"He needs the blood now if he's going to survive. He can't wait long." Patricia told them, her voice gravely serious. Rick sat down in the chair, his arm limp at his side.

Patricia stuck the needle in his arm, and Maggie came up on Sam's other side with another needle. Carl went limp. He had passed out from the pain, and Hershel held a little piece of metal in between the forceps. "One down, five to go."

Samantha sat by Carl's bed, sipping on a cup of juice. She was feeling a little woozy from donating blood, but it was nowhere near as much blood as Rick had donated. She would be up and moving around in no time, and hopefully she could give more blood if necessary. Rick was sitting beside her, saying that he needed to get ahold of Lori, that she needed to know what had happened to their boy.

Shane took him outside the room to talk to him privately, and Sam remained by Carl's bed. She looked down at him sadly before bowing her head and interlacing her thin fingers. Tears slipped out of her eyes as she mumbled a prayer for the small boy that had taken up such a large place in her heart.

"You're religious?" Hershel asked quietly once she lifted her head up and wiped her eyes.

"Yeah, I am. I went to church every Wednesday and Sunday with my momma and daddy. I was responsible for the daycare at the church too." He nodded respectfully at her. He must be a religious man.

"Come with me. We need to talk to Rick." Hershel told her, standing up and holding the door open for the young woman. She nodded, and followed closely behind him. She looked back at Carl's pale body lying on the bed. He was so young and so helpless. She just wanted to take away his pain.

"He's out of danger for the moment. I must remove the other fragments, they're deeper. His belly is distended, his pressure has dropped. I have to open him up, find the bleeder, stitch it up. He can't move _at all._ " He then continued to tell them what supplies he needed. Otis suggested going to the high school and rummaging around for what they needed to help him.

Shane volunteered to go, and Samantha gasped. "Shane .." She said quietly, and he just looked at her, determination in his eyes. What was he trying to prove by going? Otis stepped up. "I have to go with you. This is my fault." No one tried to convince him otherwise.

"Where is she? Your wife?" Maggie asked Rick.

"We were stopped on the highway. She should be there with the rest of our group." Rick told her. She nodded.

"I'm going to go find her." Maggie said.

"Let me go with you. Maybe having a familiar face with you will make them trust you." Sam said. Maggie agreed, and Rick hugged her before she left. "Be careful." He told her.

"Thank you." He said to the two of them, and Maggie smiled at him.

"You ever rode a horse before?" She asked Sam, who shook her head nervously.

"Hop on up here with me. You're pretty tiny, Lori should be able to fit on here with the two of us." Maggie had to help Samantha onto the horse, who felt awkward. Maggie hopped up with ease. She snapped the reigns, making the horse start trotting.

They rode for what seemed like miles, and Samantha could finally spot her friends in the distance. "There! That should be them!" She exclaimed, pointing my finger at the group. A walker could easily be seen hovering over someone, and they could hear the loud screams. Maggie directed the horse in the direction of the screams, and Samantha was shocked to see Andrea lying on the ground. She thought that Andrea was intent on taking care of herself.

Maggie rode by and hit the walker with her bat, knocking it off its feet. "Lori? Lori Grimes?" Maggie hollered, and Lori nodded. "Rick sent me, you gotta come now. There's been an accident, Carl's been shot."

"It's true, Lori! He needs you!" Samantha exclaimed, and Daryl glared at her, looked pissed.

"Samantha! What are you doin' with her?! You don't know her!" The blonde shook her head at him, not wanting to argue with him right now.

"I trust her, Daryl. This is serious, Carl isn't doing too good. We need to hurry!" She said, and Maggie nodded. Lori threw her bag down on the ground, and Daryl was screaming as the trio rode off.

"Goddamn it, Samantha!" Samantha felt bad knowing he was worried, but she couldn't just leave Carl and Rick behind. Rick and Hershel were standing on the porch as they rode up, and Sam could see the pain in Rick's face and he embraced Lori. The woman began to sob and he led her into the house.

Carl was still lying flat on his back, unconscious and pale. His breathing was quiet and almost nonexistent. She laid beside him on the bed, and Sam had to look away as tears filled her eyes. This was not her son, and this was not a moment she needed to witness. This was something personal to the Grimes family.

Patricia came around not too long after that, asking for more blood. Samantha donated first, followed by Rick. She sat out on the porch while Rick and Lori talked to Hershel. She sat out there and watched the sunset by herself, thinking fondly about the Dixon brothers.

She wondered how Merle was doing, wondered if he was still alive. She knew that he would love to live in a place like this. Daryl was probably still pissed at her for running off like she did, but he would forgive her. He always forgave her. She hoped that they would arrive at the farm soon, because her heart ached as she thought about him being so far away and in potential danger.

But what she didn't know, was that Daryl's heart was aching too.


	9. Save the Last One

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead! I only own Samantha!

This chapter is based on season two, episode three: "Save the Last One."

Favorite, follow, and review and let me know what you think! I'd love some reviews!

Samantha laid in the bed that Maggie led her to after she donated her blood yet again. She was tired and worn out, and her body felt like it could not function properly. She needed to relax and regain her strength, but she was on edge. Daryl was still out in the woods, looking for Sophia, while she was laying in this damn bed. She sighed and clasped her hands together, bowing her head in prayer. Praying had become a routine for her, and she often sat in the kitchen with Hershel and his family while they read from their Bible.

"Please God, keep Daryl safe. Bring him back to me, I need him, I don't think I can survive in this world without him. I already lost Merle, I can't lose Daryl next." She prayed, tears spilling out of her closed eyes. She buried her head in soft, cushiony pillow, letting the material absorb the tears. As she laid there in bed, her mind wandered to Sophia.

She was so young, and she had her whole life ahead of her. She was too young to die due to a shit storm like this, and poor Carol. Poor, poor Carol. First, she had to deal with an abusive husband. Then said husband got his face eaten off, and now, her baby girl was missing. Samantha knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it if she was going through it. It was too much for one person to handle.

She tried to silence her thoughts by focusing on the sound of the crickets outside in the open fields. It was a beautiful sound. It reminded her of the good times before everything went to hell, when things were normal. She recalled laying in her bed at her parent's house, hearing the crickets late at night, making her smile softly and close her eyes.

She dozed off that night, still focusing intently on the sound of the wildlife. Samantha woke up when the sun was rising, and she heard some movement downstairs. Sam trotted quietly down the stairs, not wanting to make too much noise and disturb whoever was still sleeping. She peeked into Carl's room, and gasped when she saw him moving around.

Rick noticed her in the doorway. "He's awake." He told her, his voice cracking as happy tears slid down his tanned cheeks. Samantha smiled at the family, happy that they were finally getting a little relief. She turned around to give the family their privacy, but Lori's gasping sobs caught her attention.

Carl's small frame was being racked by hard shakes. "A seizure." She whispered, watching as Rick wrapped Lori in his arms. Samantha turned away, not wanting to watch. Hershel checked on him after the seizure had passed said Carl needed more blood, but Rick was not able to donate anymore. "Would it hurt if I gave a little more?" She asked.

Hershel stared at her for a moment. Samantha felt much better than she did the previous night, and she knew that she probably looked better, too. "Sit down." He said, gesturing for her to take a seat on the bed. He drew the blood quickly and smoothly, he placed a piece of gauze on the puncture wound. "You go right down to that kitchen and get something to eat." He told Samantha sternly, who nodded and stood up slowly.

The difficult part was getting down the stairs, because she was starting to feel more and more woozy with every step she took. "Good morning, Samantha. Are you alright?" Patricia asked. She was sewing up the wound on T-Dog's arm, and Glenn was leaning against the doorway.

Samantha ignored the woman and gasped and ran to Glenn, hugging him tightly. "When did you get here?" She asked.

"Last night." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. T-Dog grinned at Sam, but winced as Patricia continued to stitch up his arm. "Are you okay?" Glenn asked, repeating the older woman's question.

Samantha nodded, "Just gave some more blood for Carl. He had a seizure. Hershel said he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain." They were silent for a moment.

"Where did you get this medicine?" Patricia asked.

"It belonged to someone in our group. Merle Dixon. Daryl gave them to us, that's his brother." Glenn explained, and T-Dog made a comment about Merle not being a friend. She asked what Merle was taking it for. "The clap." Glenn said, but then he got flustered. He knew that he shouldn't be telling such a kind old woman about the man's sexually transmitted infections, but Samantha had to choke back a laugh at his face.

Sam bit her lip. "Where is Daryl?" She asked, and the two men exchanged looks.

"I guess still on the highway." Glenn told her, and she raised her eyebrows.

"You guess?" She scoffed.

"We aren't really responsible for what Daryl Dixon does. I really couldn't care less." T-Dog said, and Sam gave him a dirty look.

"Well, if it wasn't for Daryl, you might be dead on the side of the highway, being chewed up by walkers." She retorted, and T-Dog scowled. She sighed, feeling bad instantly. She didn't want any unnecessary tension between the group. "Listen, man. I'm sorry I said that, you know I don't wish anything bad upon any of ya. But Daryl is my best friend in the whole world, and you know how much Merle meant to me." No one said anything, giving Sam a moment to get lost in her own thoughts. "I'm going to get something to eat." She said, going to the kitchen.

She poured herself a cup of orange juice and grabbed a peach that was on the table in a bowl. She wasn't sure if it would be a good combination or not, but she needed something in her system. Samantha moped around the rest of the day, not really wanting much company. The only person she didn't mind being around that day was Maggie, and that's just because they got along so well and were around the same age. Glenn seemed to hover around her as well, but Samantha assumed that it was for different reasons.

When night rolled around, Samantha was sitting in the living room, skimming through one of Hershel's medical books. The pictures were graphic and she didn't understand a lot of what she was reading, so she eventually gave up and put the book back.

Patricia went jogging up the stairs, making Samantha perk up with curiosity. She followed the older woman up the stairs, following her into Carl's room. They were moving him around, and Hershel had a tray of surgical tools beside him. A loud noise rumbled from outside the house, and she peeked through the curtains to see that it was Shane driving Otis's truck.

However, Samantha didn't see Otis with him. She stayed in Carl's room with Patricia, not wanting to leave her alone. Hershel came back into the room, his face slightly paler than normal. He looked at Samantha. "If you don't think you can handle this, then go now, because he doesn't have time to wait." Samantha nodded, giving Carl a sad look before going back to the couch downstairs.

Shane came in and looked at Sam while she sat on the couch, and she noticed that his expression looked off. She reached a hand out towards him, and he just stared at it. "Shane? Are you okay?" She asked, standing up. After he didn't respond she went to touch his arm, but he moved it away quickly, as if something had burned him.

"Don't, Samantha." he muttered, brushing past her, accidentally brushing his shoulder against hers. She heard Patricia's sobs coming from the kitchen, and Samantha covered her mouth with her hand. Otis didn't make it back, she realized. She sighed into her hand, feeling bad for the woman. Maggie came down the steps then and gave her friend a weak smile, who automatically held her arms out towards her.

She immediately fell into Samantha's grasp and began sobbing. She rubbed her back gently and smoothed down her short hair. "Otis is normally so careful! He hardly ever got a mark on him when he went out!" she cried, and Samantha felt her suspicions rise.

If he was normally always fine, why was this time different? It should have been easier, he had Shane with him, and she normally felt safer when he went out with the group. She held Maggie and continued to rub her back gently, but her mind was elsewhere. The building could've been overrun and he couldn't get away, she considered. Shane seemed too unusual for her comfort, and her mind wandered to a dangerous thought that she prayed wasn't true.

What if Shane killed Otis?


	10. Cherokee Rose

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead! I only own Samantha!

This episode is based on season two, episode four: Cherokee Rose.

Review, favorite, follow, or PM me!

When the next morning rolled around, everyone was standing out in front of the house when they heard the familiar sound of an engine. Samantha looked up, wiping the sweat off her brow. Dale's RV was pulling up into the driveway, with everyone else following behind him. "Daryl!" Samantha hollered, even though she knew that he couldn't hear her yet. She just couldn't contain her excitement. Maggie smiled at her knowingly.

Samantha tore my work gloves off and threw them to the side. Daryl parked his motorcycle in the driveway and she sprinted over to him. She practically tackled him in a hug, and her small arms wrapped around his middle. He gently patted her back, and she could tell that he was feeling awkward to be doing this so publicly. She breathed in his scent and smiled widely. His smell was so familiar and comforting. "Samantha. I could kill yer stupid ass." He told her, and she giggled.

"I know, Daryl. But I'm fine. These are really good people." She assured him, and he nodded, still looking apprehensive. Rick and Lori were talking to the rest of the group, and Samantha reluctantly released her hold on the younger Dixon brother.

"What are ya'll doin', gatherin' rocks?" He asked, and Samantha sighed.

"We're getting ready for a funeral. I'll tell ya everything later, we gotta get this finished." Daryl didn't look happy with her answer. "It was one of their people." She told him quietly, and he nodded in understanding. He didn't question it anymore, and he made his way over to Rick.

When the funeral came, Hershel was standing in front of everyone with a suit and a Bible. Samantha was surprised to see them having an actual graveside service. She expected just for everyone to say a few words and move on with their day.

"Blessed be God, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ," Hershel began, but Samantha couldn't focus on his words because she was too busy watching Maggie and Patricia. They were beyond upset, but Samantha wasn't surprised when she saw Glenn wrap his arm around Maggie's shoulder and pull her head into his chest "Shane, will you speak for Otis?" The older man asked, and Samantha had to hold back a groan.

Shane looked apprehensive, and at first, she thought he would refuse, and he tried to. But Patricia coerced him into speaking, and he stepped forward. "We were about done. Almost out of ammo, we were down to our pistols by then. I was limpin'. It was bad, my ankle was all swollen up. 'We gotta save the boy.' He said. Gave me his backpack, shoved me ahead." He told them about how Otis offered to take the rear, and when he looked back, he was being demolished by the undead. He placed one of the stones on the monument.

Daryl was watching Shane closely, giving him skeptical looks. A few others said kind words about Otis, and then they slowly began to trickle away. After the funeral, a few of the men decided to go looking for Sophia. "Daryl, are you going?" Sam asked, her voice quiet.

"Of course, I'm goin'." He scoffed, slinging his bow up on his shoulder. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"You just got here." Sam said, her voice quieter than before. He sighed. He wasn't used to having someone worry about him and he didn't know how to react.

"Sam, we gotta find her. She's just a lil' girl." He told her, and she nodded. She knew that if she asked him to stay, it would be selfish. Daryl was thinking about what was best for little Sophia, and Samantha knew that he was determined to find her. She grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Just be careful." She told him, and he nodded.

"I will." He said gruffly, not meeting her eyes. He brought his thumb up to his mouth and began chewing at his thumbnail.

Samantha smiled at him. "You better." She turned back and walked to the house, going to see if Patricia needed any help with anything. She glanced back over her shoulder one last time to see Daryl standing around the truck with the others, planning a route to search for Sophia. She knew that he wasn't giving the map his full attention, and that's because the pair maintained eye contact for a few brief moments.

Patricia was sitting at the kitchen table crying, with Beth holding her hand beside her. Samantha felt like she was intruding, so she went to turn away when Patricia called her name. "Samantha, I didn't see you there. I'm sorry you must see me like this. It's just so damn hard." She said, her voice cracking. Samantha shook her head and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't apologize, I know this is hard on you. If you need to cry, then you cry. There's nothing wrong with it. Merle used to always tell me that I was such a girl for crying, and it made me weak, but I don't think that's true. We're all human, we all have emotions." She sat down at the table beside her, holding her other hand.

She looked at Samantha with her watery blue eyes, the white around them bloodshot. Her smile was shaky, but she squeezed her hand, letting Sam know how thankful she was. "Now what happened to Merle? I remember Glenn saying that Daryl was his brother. If you don't mind me asking."

Samantha sighed sadly. "Daryl was the one that found me. I was wandering around in the woods by myself for God knows how long, and I ended up following him around one day. He brought me back to camp, where I met Merle and Shane and Lori and everyone. Merle was a dirty old pervert who didn't have any manners and didn't give a shit about what anyone else had to say. He became my best friend, and he was always there for me. Then one day, he went to Atlanta on a run.

He had apparently always had a problem with drugs, and they said that he was really bad that day. Dangerous, running around, shooting his gun for now reason. I wasn't there for him. But Rick showed up and handcuffed him to the roof of a building, and that's when T-Dog lost the key. So, they left him, alone. They went back for him, but he had cut his own hand off so he could get off that roof. And now we don't know where he is, or if he's still alive." Sam said, letting a tear slide down her tanned face.

"Did you love him?" Beth asked, making Samantha chuckle.

"Everyone always asks me that. Merle was my best friend, I loved him like he was my own flesh and blood. He might have been an asshole most of the time, and he was, but I still cared for him. But now he's gone. It's just me and Daryl."

Patricia smiled a little. "I saw the two of you when he first got here. You love him. I'm pretty sure he loves you just the same." Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but Maggie came running in the house.

"Samantha, can you come here? We all need to see this." Patricia and Beth didn't want to go, so Sam ran out there with Maggie while the other two continued to sit at the table. She ran all the way to the well, where Dale was shining his flashlight down into the water. A walker was in the bottom, bloated from the water that had absorbed into its skin.

Samantha's stomach churned, and she turned to the side and threw up what little bit of food she had in her stomach. She wiped the excess off her mouth and turned back to the group as they were trying to devise a plan to get rid of the walker. They wanted to tie Glenn to the rope and lower him down, and surprisingly, he didn't argue.

"Guys this is nuts!" Sam exclaimed.

"Are you volunteering to go?" Shane asked, looking up from the knot he was tying around Glenn.

Andrea scoffed. "So, we can face the wrath of Daryl Dixon when he gets back? I don't want to have to deal with his redneck ass." Samantha glared at the two of them, but kept her mouth shut. Knowing Shane, he might just push my ass in the well, she thought bitterly.

They lowered Glenn down in the well and Sam took a deep breath. She couldn't imagine how terrified Glenn must be. She could hear the walker snarling and growling, Glenn let out a yell and she gasped, looking down into the well. Maggie screamed as they lost control of the rope and Glenn went sailing down into the well, and T-Dog grabbed the rope quickly.

"Get me out guys! Get me out!" Glenn screeched in fear, and Samantha gritted her teeth as the rope burned the palm of her hands. They all took a sigh of relief when they managed to pull Glenn out, and Shane ran a hand over his shaved head.

"Back to the drawing board." He said, kicking at the dirt. Glenn gave him a little smirk as he stood up.

"Says you." He handed him the rope, and they were all shocked when they felt the walker tug on the rope.

"Glenn, you're amazing!" Samantha cheered, and he waved at her as he walked away. She couldn't believe that he managed to pull it off. "Now how are we going to get it out?" Maggie asked, looking down in the well.

The group all tugged on the rope, pulling the bloated walker out of the well. The body got stuck on the rocks, and before they could do anything to prevent it, the body split in two. Sam groaned and turned her head up to the sky, but she could still hear the splashing of its organs hitting the well water.

"Well, goddamn." She muttered, throwing the rope on the ground. T-Dog ran over and immediately began angrily beating its face in, his rage getting the best of him.

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it."

Daryl came home not too long after that, and Sam began to walk in his direction. Before she could reach him, he held one finger up to her, so she stopped, confused. He opened the door to the RV and went inside, and Samantha quietly followed him.

Carol was sitting in there, and Daryl dropped a flower in a vase. "A flower?"

"A Cherokee Rose. The story is, that when American soldiers were movin' the Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grievin' and cryin' so much because they were losin' their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them jus' disappeared. So, the elders said a prayer and asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits and give them strength and hope. The next day, this rose started to grow right where their tears fell. I'm not foolish enough to think that there are any flowers out there growing fer my brother, but I believe this one bloomed fer yah little girl." He told her. Samantha sniffled, wiping away the tears that had fallen from her eyes.

He walked out of the RV to find Sam waiting. He wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her head down, rubbing his fist against her head. "Ya just couldn't wait, could ya? Ya nosy bitch." He said, and she wrapped an arm around his torso as she laughed loudly.

"I missed you too, you mean old bastard."


	11. Chupacabra

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead! I only own Samantha.

I hope everyone is enjoying the rewrite so far. I want to thank you guys for being patient, because nursing school has been kicking my butt and I haven't had much time to write. So, I'm going to try to type up as many chapters as I can so I can publish them throughout the semester. Please, continue to review, favorite and follow this story so I'll know if people are enjoying it or not. Thank you my lovelies ~  
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Samantha had stuck by Daryl's side all evening since he made it back to the farm, and she had fell asleep in his tent that night. When she woke the next morning, one of her legs was wedged comfortably in between both of Daryl's, and his arm was slung lazily around her thin waist. She sighed contently, knowing that once he woke up, the moment would be over.

"Sam?" Damn it. His voice was rough and heavy with sleep.

"Mornin' Daryl." She said, turning her head slightly so she could see his face. He looked shocked now that he was finally waking up, and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, which made Samantha grin. "Look how cute you are when you blush." She teased, touching his cheek lightly.

He reached up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from his face. He held her wrist gently in his large hand, and Samantha felt her heart pound in her chest as the two held eye contact. "Yer a pervert. Sleepin' in my bed, touchin' me without my consent." He said, his voice rough, but this time it wasn't with sleep. The lust was evident in his voice, and it sent a tingle down Samantha's spine.

She felt her eyes widen a fraction at his words, but then he gave her a little smirk. "I'm jus' screwin' with ya, Sam." He said, dropping her wrist. Her face was burning with embarrassment and she scrambled to stand up and make my way out of the tent. She heard the faint sound of his chuckles as she ran the other way.

Lori and Carol were at the clothes line, hanging up the wet laundry. "Oh no! I forgot it was laundry day." Samantha apologized to the two women, and they both smiled at the small blonde.

"I just woke up myself." Lori said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I can manage. I had an idea to run by the two of you. Their big kitchen got me thinking, I'd love to cook in a real kitchen again. Maybe we can all pitch in and cook for Hershel and his family tonight." Carol explained, and Samantha grinned.

"That would be fun! It would be good for everyone. A little bit of normalcy." Lori agreed with the two women.

"It's the least we could do, after everything they've done for us."

"Could you extend the invitation?" Carol asked Lori, and the curious look on her face led Carol to explain. "Well, you're Rick's wife. Kind of makes you the unofficial First Lady." Lori grinned at that. Samantha blushed as Daryl came walking behind her, gently bumping his shoulder against hers, and Lori and Carol both seemed to have noticed, and they shared a look.

The men were huddled around the truck, planning trails to go look for Sophia. The two women were still staring at Samantha, and she bent down, picking up and armful of wet clothes to hang up. "I actually saw you run out of his tent this morning, looking pretty flustered." Lori pointed out, and Samantha flung a wet shirt at her.

"I was so happy that he was back last night that I didn't want to leave him. So, I was in there last night and we were just talking, and I probably just fell asleep in there and he didn't want to wake me up." Carol giggled and Lori gave the young girl a look.

"You were talking? Daryl Dixon does not seem like the type of person that would 'just talk.' He seems more like the type of guy that wants action." Lori said, and Sam shook her head.

"He's never tried anything with me." She said, and surprisingly, her voice was slightly bitter. The girls gave her sympathetic looks, and she shrugged it off. "His loss, right?"

Daryl and the group left not too long after that. Samantha stayed and did busy work with Lori and Carol, enjoying their company. She waved at Glenn as he approached Lori, but he ignored her. "You're pregnant." Samantha gasped. Lori stared at him with hard eyes.

"Don't you dare tell anyone." She demanded, turning around and looking at Shane and Rick who were walking down the road.

"I just had a long talk with Shane." Rick said.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but this isn't my business. Lori, I'll see you in a little bit, I'll go see what all they have in the kitchen for dinner." Lori gave Samantha a tight smile and Rick gave her a respectful nod.

Daryl groaned as he woke up, his body and head aching profusely. He heard footsteps approaching. "This is it." He muttered, thinking it was a walker.

"Why don't yah pull the arrow out, dummy? Yah could bind that wound better." Daryl gave a little grin when he realized who the voice belonged to.

"Merle. Sam would kill to hear yah right about now." He whispered, thinking of how excited the pretty little girl would react.

Merle gave a big grin, remembering his best friend. "What's goin on here? Yah taking a siesta or somethin'?"

"I'm having a shitty day, bro." Daryl replied. It hadn't been all bad though. He woke up all tangled up with Samantha. Merle got smart, asking if he wanted a pillow or a foot massage. "Screw yah."

"Screw me? Yah sure that I would be yer first choice? I'm surprised yah didn't pick our little princess, she's quite a catch." Merle retorted, and Daryl was silent. "I knew yah had a thing for her, I could jus' tell. Yah hated when we would get too close, when I made her laugh too hard. It wasn't a secret, Darylina. Yah need to get yer shit together man, and get back to her. She can't live without both of us." Daryl took a deep breath before pushing himself off the ground. For Samantha.

Samantha stood in the kitchen with Patricia, Beth, Lori, and Carol. She was peeling potatoes over the trash can. "I love this kitchen." She told Patricia, who smiled at her in thanks. "I always wanted a nice house with a big kitchen."

"Thank you again for letting us use it." Carol said. Samantha saw Hershel in the dining room talking to Maggie, and he didn't look very happy, and the blonde shook her head. He was so uncomfortable with them here.

Samantha kept glancing out the window, looking for Daryl. He still wasn't back yet. She didn't want him to be out in the dark. Andrea was sitting on top of the RV, keeping a look out. Sam saw a figure appear from the woods, and she dropped her potato. She sprinted out of the kitchen, ignoring the calls of the other women.

Daryl was limping through the fields. Andrea cocked her gun and took aim. She pulled the trigger. "Andrea, goddammit!" Samantha screamed at her as she sprinted past. "That was Daryl!" Tears were streaming down her face as she ran, and her heart had dropped into her stomach. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she sprinted through the field.

Daryl was lying on his back, covered in blood and dirt and grime. "Daryl." Samantha said, wiping the tears away.

"I was kidding." He said, touching the spot where the bullet brushed his skin. Andrea came running to them as they helped Daryl stand up, and that's when he lost consciousness.

"Is he dead?" She asked, and Sam glared.

"You're gonna wish he was." Andrea gave Sam an exasperated look.

"I didn't know it was him." T-Dog held up a doll.

"Isn't this Sophia's?" Sam grinned at Daryl's body.

"You son of a bitch."

They laid him in a bed upstairs so Hershel could look him over and he could rest. Samantha sat in the kitchen anxiously because Hershel had asked her to step out. Her foot was tapping nervously on the floor.

"He'll be fine." Carol assured her, kissing the top of her head. She had Sophia's dirt covered doll in her hand. Sam smiled at her and took her hand. Rick came into the kitchen. "He's okay, you can go see him." Samantha sighed with relief.

Hershel was standing outside of the door, and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, sir. I know that you're probably tired of us and tired of taking care of us, but I appreciate this more than anything. He means a lot to me." He nodded at Samantha and didn't say anything, but he lightly patted her arm as he walked past.

Sam opened the door quietly and saw that he was lying down on his side, holding an ice pack against his head. "Can't a guy get some rest? Sam." He said, realizing who it was.

"Hi Daryl." She sat down beside him on the bed, gently taking hold of the ice pack so he could lay his arm down. "You're an idiot." Samantha continued, and he snorted but didn't say anything. "Are you okay? Seriously?" She asked, removing the ice pack and leaning down to look at his head.

"I'm fine. I gotta .. I gotta tell you somethin'. When I was out there, I was really messed up. Thought I was done. But then, Merle was there. He was there, givin' me shit about being weak and how I needed to get back here. For you." Samantha laid down gently beside him on the bed.

She placed her back against his chest and he carefully wrapped an arm around her. "I'm glad you made it back for me." She told him quietly, picking up his hand and kissing it. Samantha laid there for a while, until his breathing started to slow. She planned on getting up and going back downstairs, but she didn't want to risk waking him up. She closed her eyes and tried to match her breathing with his, until she heard the door open. He jumped awake and released his grasp on her, grasping his head as the sudden movement caused a jolt of pain.

"I brought you both some dinner." The voice belonged to Carol. Samantha smiled at her friend but remained quiet as Carol and Daryl had a conversation. She knew that finding Sophia's doll had instilled hope in them both. When Carol shut the door behind her, Daryl's arm wound back around Sam's waist, and she sighed with content.

"We'll eat in a little bit." He said, and Samantha nodded in agreement.

"I'm not in a hurry."


	12. Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead, only Samantha.

This chapter is based off season two episode six, "Secrets." I hope everyone enjoys it.

Daryl was the most stubborn patient that any doctor could probably ever have. He refused to take any medicine that they offered him, because he said he didn't need it. He said he didn't need to have everyone coming in and checking on him, because he was fine. The only person that he didn't mind was Samantha.

She could see that his wounds were healing nicely. The bullet that grazed his head left quite a mark, and Samantha knew that it would probably scar. He wouldn't let her check the marks that were under his shirt, and she had to be honest, she was slightly disappointed she didn't get to put her hands on his body.

She helped him pack up a few of his things when he decided that he wanted to go back outside to his tent. "Jus' because I'm hurt don't make me no damn cripple." He defended himself, pushing Samantha gently out of his way, causing her to chuckle.

"No one ever said you were a cripple. But you are supposed to be taking it easy. I don't know why you just won't stay inside just for a few more days. You could use the rest." She tried to coerce him, placing her soft hand on his rough, tan arm.

He scoffed. "I'll rest jus' fine outside, in my tent." She didn't argue with him. She helped him unzip his tent and watched as he walked in and gently laid himself down on the bed. She placed his bag beside him, taking the dirty clothes out of it.

"I'm going to wash these. They're filthy. Do you need me to get you anything before I go?" She asked him, and he just grunted and rolled over. She rolled her eyes and left the tent, his dirty clothes in hand. Glenn was standing next to Maggie, and it looked like they were arguing about something. She sighed, there was too much tension on this farm.

She washed Daryl's clothes carefully, trying to make sure I got all the blood and grime out of them. She held up one particularly filthy shirt. It was the one he had been wearing when he fell off the horse, impaled himself on his own arrow, and got shot in the head by Andrea. Sam sighed and dunked it down in the water, deciding to leave that one in there to soak.

Once she had finished washing them and hung them up on the clothes line to dry, she noticed Andrea sitting in Daryl's tent, causing her to scowl. She gave Sam a weak smile as she left, and Sam nodded in return. "What was she doing?" She asked Daryl, trying to sound nonchalant.

"She brought me this book. And she said she was sorry." He told her, holding the book in his hand. Sam reached out and snatched it, flipping through the pages.

"What, no pictures?" She joked, tossing it back to him. He snorted a little.

"Exactly what I said." Samantha watched the guys stand around the truck, planning another route to search for Sophia. Patricia and Beth joined the group of men, which Samantha thought was odd. They normally never participate in the searches.

"Go see what's goin' on. I'll be fine." Daryl told Sam, and she hesitated before leaning over, kissing his cheek, and exiting the tent. They were asking Rick for shooting lessons, but he denied their request, saying he needed to ask Hershel first.

"Rick. I'd be interested in that too, if you wouldn't mind teaching me." He grinned at Sam, but then he glanced in the direction of Daryl's tent.

"Does Daryl know about you wanting to do this?" Samantha rolled her eyes.

"I don't need Daryl's permission to do anything, I'm a big girl. Besides, what he doesn't know what hurt him." She winked, and Rick shook his head, chuckling.

"Okay. Let's go." Shane and Rick drove a few of them out to a clearing, where they propped glass bottles up on the fence posts. She held the gun tightly in her hand, cursing when she missed the first few times. She was shooting nowhere near the bottles.

"Don't get discouraged." Rick patted her shoulder as he walked by. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them and focusing on the target. She pulled the trigger, squealing with delight when my glass bottle exploded.

"Good job, Sam!" T-Dogg said, clapping her on her shoulder. She was beaming with pride and took aim again. She loved the feeling of adrenaline that it gave her, and she could smell the gunpowder in the air.

Rick laughed at her when they got back to camp. "You look about as proud of yourself as Carl does." He said, gesturing to the small boy beside her. She laughed loudly and ruffled Carl's brown hair.

"What can I say? We're badass." She said, turning around and walking to Daryl's tent. He was laying on his side, twisting and twirling an arrow in-between his fingers.

"Hi Daryl." Sam said, sitting down beside him. He turned over and looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her excited features. "We were practicing our shooting. I hit almost all of my targets!" She exclaimed, feeling proud of herself.

"That's nothin' special. Anyone can do that. You try any movin' targets?" He asked, and Sam shook her head. He scoffed and didn't say anything else. Samantha's blood began to boil. Why did he have to be such a jackass?

"Sorry I bothered you." She told him, and she heard him yell her name as she stomped off. "Dumb bastard." She growled. She wanted to do something to keep her mind busy, but all that she had left to do was take care of Daryl's dry clothes.

Dale saw her stomping by, and he called her name. "Samantha. What's going on?" He asked, causing the small blonde girl to sigh.

"Daryl was just being a jackass." She told him, causing the old man to laugh.

"Samantha, it was probably nothing personal. He's been stuck in that house for days, and now he's stuck in that tent. You know how he is, he likes to be constantly doing stuff. He's probably just getting cabin fever. You need to talk to him, he'll apologize. I know he will." Dale told her, and Sam smiled up at him.

"Thanks, Dale." He smiled back.

"Anytime."

Maggie and Glenn came back from town just then, and Sam saw Maggie practically sprint towards Lori. She was screaming at her, throwing objects down on the ground. "And here's your abortion pills!" She screeched, throwing them at Lori, who was staring at her with wide eyes.

Glenn chased after Maggie, leaving Lori standing there alone. Sam sighed and shook her head. Maggie had blood on her shirt, so she assumed that something had to have happened while she was in town with Glenn. Lori picked her objects up off the ground and went into her tent, not even acknowledging the fact that Samantha was there.

Samantha finally gave in and started taking Daryl's clothes off the line. They were clean and dry, and she folded them neatly and placed them in the basket. Andrea and Shane pulled back into big driveway in front of the farm, and they were both wearing shit eating grins.

Sam shook her head. This group had too much drama. She took Daryl's clothes over to his tent and unzipped it slowly, walking back inside. She took the clothes out of the basket and sat them on the ground. He didn't say anything to her.

She took a deep breath, wanting to rip into him and tell him off, before she decided that it would be smarter to leave. "Sam?" He started, and she turned around.

"Yeah, Daryl?" She asked, picking up the empty clothes basket.

"I'm sorry." His voice was gruff. He wasn't used to having to apologize to anyone.

"I know, Daryl. It's okay." She assured him, smiling to herself. She dropped the basket back down on the ground and sat down beside Daryl. He turned on his opposite side carefully so he could face the pretty blonde, and she filled him in on the drama that had she had seen today in the camp.

"Lori's pregnant?" He asked, his eyes wide. Samantha nodded, and he groaned. "Tha's exactly what we need. A screamin' baby to attract more attention to us." He was making a good point.

"Plus, where are we going to get diapers and formula and clothes? We have enough stuff to worry about, but now we're going to have to make extra trips into town to get her shit." Samantha said, leaning back and closing her eyes.

"She can get her boyfriends to go, it's not our problem."

"Do you think that the baby belongs to Shane or Rick?" Daryl was quiet for a minute, pondering Samantha's question.

"That's a damn good question. Who the hell knows?" He snorted, and Samantha chuckled. "This group is goin' to shit." Daryl said, and Sam sighed.

"I know."


	13. Pretty Much Dead Already

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, I only own Samantha.

This episode is based off season two, episode seven, "Pretty Much Dead Already."

I'd love some reviews to know what people are thinking about this story! I want to thank **galwidanatitud** for their reviews! It means so much to me! I also want to thank **Sunkist22** for pointing out a few errors I made in the first chapter with first and third person point of view. I went back and fixed it!

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The next morning, the group sat around their little fire pit, eating breakfast. Daryl was sitting in a camping chair, and Samantha was perched on the ground beside him. He nodded at Carol as she scooped the rest of the eggs onto his plate. He needed to eat plenty so he would heal quickly.

No one said anything for most of the morning, until Glenn stood up. "So, the barn is full of walkers." He blurted out, and everyone gave him unbelieving looks.

"The barn?" Samantha asking, thinking about all the times she had walked by it without knowing. Daryl glanced over at her before turning his attention back to Glenn.

"Well, let's go check this out for ourselves." Shane said. When the group arrived at the barn, they all hung back while Shane went and squinted in between the cracks in the wood. The moans were faintly heard. "You can't be okay with this!" Shane said to Rick.

"No, I'm not, but this isn't our land." He tried to reason with Shane, but there was no reasoning with that man, especially when he got fired up like this. Samantha walked up to it slowly, wanting to see it for herself. She stopped right in front of barn when she heard Daryl yelling at Shane.

"I found her doll, man!" He argued, and Shane threw his hands up, exasperated.

"You found a _doll._ " They continued to argue until Daryl got in Shane's face, and he attempted to throw punches.

"Can we have this argument somewhere else? Preferably not in front of a barn full of goddammned walkers? Idiot ass people." Samantha said, turning on her heel and walking off as the rest stared fearfully at the door holding back the moaning walkers.

Carol was in tears at the discussion of her daughter, and Samantha decided that she would talk to her back at the house. It wasn't safe to be yelling and screaming outside the barn, it would only draw the attention of the walkers.

The group followed behind Sam as she stomped off, and she knew Daryl would be spitting fire. He brushed past her, going straight for the horses. "Daryl Dixon!" Samantha exclaimed, but Carol was right behind him. He was getting the horse ready to go out, and Sam heard Carol muttering to him. She didn't say anything as she watched the exchange between the two, and she was ashamed to admit it but jealousy brewed in stomach.

He slung the saddle across the ground, groaning as he did so. That was when Sam got involved. "Daryl, you idiot! What are you doing?" She sighed, and she heard him mutter, "stupid bitch."

"Excuse me?" She demanded, catching up with his retreating figure.

"Ain't talkin' about you. Talkin' about _her._ Said she didn't want me goin' out there cause she didn't wanna lose me, too." He glanced over at Sam out of the corner of his eye.

"She acts like you're her boyfriend." She muttered, the bitterness obvious in her voice. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"You act like you're jealous." She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment, and she refused to make eye contact with him.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous? It's not like we're together." Samantha said, feeling the heat spread to her neck. Daryl didn't say anything then, and when Sam looked up at him, she dared to think that she saw a very faint blush on his tanned cheeks.

"I just wanna find that damn girl." He said after a few minutes of the two walking together silently.

Shane was continuing to patrol the barn, and Glenn was standing on top of the RV, keeping watch. He was wearing Dale's hat, which made Sam chuckle. "That's a cute look." She told him jokingly, and he rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha. You're hilarious. I just needed a hat while I was on watch. Maggie kinda .. cracked an egg in my hat and put it back on my head." He told Sam, looking embarrassed. She threw her head back and laughed, before getting a serious face again.

"Is it because you told us about the walkers in the barn?" Glenn nodded sadly. "But you know it was the right thing to do, Glenn. Those things out there are a danger to us. They could break down those doors any minute." Sam saw him swallow nervously as he imagined that.

"I know. I just wish it wouldn't have been my responsibility to tell you guys." Sam shielded the sun from her eyes as she looked up at him.

"Glenn, you're a good guy. And if Maggie is going to let this ruin things for the two of you, then so be it, because it's her loss." She told him, giving him a big grin. He gave a sheepish grin in return, and Sam waved to him as she walked away.

Rick was stomping out of Hershel's house towards the barn, and Sam knew that he was going to talk to Shane. Those two were trouble when they were together, because all they seemed to do nowadays is argue about everything under the sun.

Sam wasn't sure where Daryl had gone, but she knew he would turn up eventually. He always disappeared when he was angry, and Sam always had a small feeling of fear in her gut that something else would happen, but he always came back.

She wandered around, looking for some busy work. Lori was sitting on a stump, cutting carrots. "Hi Lori, do you mind if I help you? I've been going nuts trying to find something to do." She grinned at the blonde.

"I could always use some help." Sam sat down on her butt in the grass and grabbed a bunch of the carrots that were in the wooden basket. Lori handed her another knife, and the two sat in comfortable silence as they sliced the vegetables.

"Lori, are you okay? I don't mean to pry or sound rude, but you don't look well." Sam said, referring to the dark bags under her eyes. Lori sighed, sitting down the knife and gently rubbing her hand over her face.

"I found out that I'm pregnant. And I don't know whether to have the baby or not, because look at this place. We thought we were safe here, but now we find out that there is a secret hoard of walkers locked away. This isn't the life for a baby." Sam nodded, taking in everything that she was saying.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do. This is your body and your baby. If you don't want the baby to live in this world, that is your decision. And if you do want it, then that's fine, too. Just know that I'm here to help you no matter what you choose." Sam said, continuing to cut the carrots nonchalantly.

Lori's eyes had filled with tears, and Sam smiled at her as she wiped them away.

"Thank you." She said, and Samantha nodded in response. Shane came over then, walking at a brisk pace. He stopped beside the log, giving the blonde a look.

"I guess that's my que to leave." She stood up, brushing the back of her pants off to remove the dirt. She didn't want to hang around and be nosy because Shane could be quite intimidating. Besides, Sam still hadn't seen Daryl or Carol for a while. It made her suspicious.

The group was sitting on the porch later that day when they saw it. Maggie and Glenn were canoodling on the stairs, and the rest of them were just enjoying each other's company. Daryl and Carol came out of the woods together, and Sam raised her eyebrows.

He began ranting about the trail he had for finding Sophia, and everyone else began to wonder about Rick's whereabouts when Shane showed up. He began passing out guns, and Sam reached out and grabbed one. Maggie gave her friend a look of betrayal, but she didn't let it bother her. She wasn't going to die because of their mistakes.

"Oh shit." T Dog said. Rick was leading a walker into the field, and it was attached to a metal pole with a collar around its neck. Hershel had one as well. The group sprinted over to the scene, not believing their eyes. Shane was the quickest, and he exploded in a rage of anger.

"Hershel, let me ask you something. Can a livin', breathin', person survive this?" He began peppering the walker with bullets, but it didn't fall. "That's three rounds in the chest!" Everyone gasped as he began screaming louder and he walked up to the walker and shot it in the head.

"This is a bunch of bullshit." Sam said, loud enough for the Greene family to hear. They all looked at her with teary eyes. Shane ran over to the barn and busted the doors open. Samantha held her gun up, no hesitation, and walked over beside him. "This is bullshit if you let them live! Come on!" She screamed, shooting at each one she could. Her aim was slightly off, but she still managed to kill a few with clear head shots.

The others ran up beside Shane and Samantha, shooting at the rotten bodies. They shot and shot at them, but the walkers continued to pour out of the barn. It seemed to be never ending. Rick still hadn't pulled his gun out, and he continued to yell at the group to stop.

The bodies were dropping like flies. Time seemed to slow down as they kept coming out of the barn, and when they finally thought it was over, they saw her. A tiny, partially decomposed body walked out of the barn, wearing a little rainbow shirt.

Carol was sobbing from behind Sam, and she ran towards her daughter. Daryl caught her and pinned her to the ground, not wanting her to go after the girl. Sophia stumbled over the rest of the corpses to get to the group, and Sam felt the tears spill out of her eyes. Carol's sobs hurt her heart, and she knew that Daryl had to be hurting as well.

Rick walked up to young Sophia, putting a bullet in her head. The first walker he killed that came out of that barn, and it had to be her. He stared down at her body as her mother wailed in the background, and Sam dropped to her knees, surveying the scene in front of her in silence.


	14. Nebraska

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead! I only own Samantha.

This chapter is based off season two, episode eight, "Nebraska." Enjoy!

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Daryl helped pulled the sobbing mother off the ground, chanting quietly in her ear. "Don't look. Don't look." The Greene's were obviously distraught by the scene, and Beth was stupid enough to get too close to the bodies. One jumped up and grabbed at her, causing her to scream.

When her scream cut through the air, everyone jumped into action. Andrea was the one who stopped the walker that had a hold on the tiny blonde. Samantha sighed as she stood there, looking at the dead, rotting corpses. "We've been combing through these woods, and she was in there all along?" Shane demanded, chasing after the Greene family, the rage visible in his eyes.

"Leave us alone!" Maggie demanded, but Shane was a persistent bastard. He continued to chase after them as Samantha glared from afar. Maggie caught her eye, and Sam felt a pang of guilt in her chest, but she quickly brushed that feeling aside.

She didn't care if it ruined her friendship with the farmer's daughter. Keeping those walkers in the barn was a stupid thing of them to do, and the fact that Sophia was in there made it even worse. She didn't need friends like that. Friends that protected those monsters. It didn't matter if those bodies were friends, lovers, or family members. They were dangerous, and they needed to be put down.

She had to do it to her family.

Andrea covered up Sophia's body with a blanket, and Daryl entered the RV to talk to Carol. Samantha patiently waited outside, not wanting to intrude. Sophia meant a lot to all of them, but Daryl was so determined to find the poor girl. She had wanted to talk to Daryl before he could run off, but they had work to do and she couldn't sit around and wait on him.

A service was planned for Sophia later that day. They were to honor the Greene family members as well, but Samantha wasn't sure if they would even come to the memorial that was planned.

Everyone was on edge that day, but Rick and Shane were on a whole other level. They seemed ready to snap on anyone, and Samantha heard them yelling quite a few times as the day went on. Samantha helped dig the graves for Sophia and the Greene's, and it was hard. Her muscles ached, and she could feel the sun beating down on her neck. Her shirt was soaked with sweat.

Once they were finally finished, Samantha followed Lori into the RV. "They're ready." She said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"Come on." Lori urged, her voice quiet. Carol didn't meet her eyes.

"Why?" Carol choked out.

"Because that's yer lil girl." Daryl said. Samantha placed her hand on his tanned arm when she heard the raw emotion in his voice.

"That's not my little girl. That's some other … thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought .. she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago." Carol's voice cracked.

Samantha's heart throbbed. She left the RV with Lori, Daryl following in tow. She paid her respects for all the deceased, before heading into the house. Her head was pounding after the stress of the day, and she just needed a few minutes to decompress on her own.

She sat on the couch in the living room, holding her head in her hands. She could feel the pain slowly ebbing away as she sat there, but she jumped as a loud noise resounded through the house. She jumped up and quickly followed the footsteps of Maggie and Glenn as they ran up the stairs.

"I think she's in shock." Was all that she heard the voices say. Beth laid on the bed, stoic and still. Maggie ran off to tell her father, but he had left the farm.

"I'll stay with Beth." Samantha volunteered, and Maggie gave her a weak smile. Sam nodded in response to her smile, still feeling the bitterness deep in her gut, but she pushed it aside for now.

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Daryl came inside the house looking for her later that day. "Sam, what are yah doin?" She smiled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She must have dozed off while she was watching Beth.

"I was just sittin' here with Beth. They said she's in shock. Just waiting for her to wake up or snap out of it." He nodded.

"Lori came to me. Askin' me to go get Rick and Hershel." Sam raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. She knew that he wouldn't have been kind to Lori. "I told her I had better things to do. She called me selfish."

Sam sighed, wrapping her arms around him. He didn't hug back right away, but he awkwardly placed his hands on her small back. "Daryl, you have to be one of the most selfless people I know. You went out there and risked your life for Sophia. You got shot by Andrea and impaled by your own arrow looking for that little girl." He didn't say anything, but his grip on her shirt tightened.

"If you don't want to go get Rick, it's fine. He is a grown ass man and he is not your responsibility." She told him sternly, looking up into his eyes. She felt like his blue eyes were staring into her soul, and her heart began to beat loudly in her chest. She wouldn't have been surprised if he could hear it.

She swallowed loudly, and his eyes flickered down to her lips, which she unconsciously licked with the tip of her tongue. "Daryl." Sam muttered, and that seemed to break him out of his trance.

"Sam, I gotta go." He said, letting go of the girl and backing out the door quickly. She groaned, flopping back down into the chair she had been sitting in. She didn't need to be lusting after Daryl right now. Not when Rick and Hershel were missing.

Maggie walked into the room quietly and slowly, not making eye contact with her. Sam didn't say anything to the farm girl, and after a few minutes of silence, she got up to leave. "Samantha, don't be mad at me." She begged. "I didn't know that Sophia was in the barn."

"But there were still a shit ton of walkers in there. That's still an issue. You kept that from me!" Samantha exclaimed, and she frowned.

"They weren't hurting anyone!" Maggie defended, and Sam scoffed.

"But they could have. Imagine if they would've got out. They could've got anyone of us." Sam growled, her anger building.

"Sam .. they were my family." She said, her voice quiet.

"Mags, I had to kill my own. That's something that you all gotta be responsible for, but we had to take it into our own hands." She frowned.

"You had to kill your own family?" She asked.

"Mom was a doctor. She went to work one day, and came home with a bite on her arm. We didn't think anything of it at first, she said it was just a crazed patient. She got tested for any diseases and she got a tetanus shot, and she planned on going back the next morning to get her results.

When I woke up the next morning, the house was really quiet. It was normally quiet in the mornings, but this was eerie. I opened my bedroom and went downstairs, expecting to see my mom, or my dad, or my brother. His name was Steven. He was fourteen. I didn't see anyone, so I went back upstairs when I heard the sound. It sounded like someone was eating something, but it was a gross, wet sound. Mom was in Steven's room, his body still lying on his bed.

She had pulled most of his small intestine out, and it was coiled on the ground. She was munching and pulling the remaining flesh off, shoving it into her mouth. There was .. so much blood. She must have heard me, because she turned around. Her eyes were wide and wild, and her jaws were still chewing up chunks of my brother. I slammed the door, but I heard her still clawing. I went downstairs and got a knife, before I went upstairs and took care of it.

Dad was in their bedroom, and I took care of him and Steven both. I had a feeling that bad things would happen if I didn't." Maggie was listening to the story with teary eyes, and when Sam finished, she wrapped her arms around her friend.

"I haven't told anyone about that other than Merle and Daryl." Sam admitted, wiping the tears off her cheeks. Maggie sobbed into her shoulder for a few minutes, and Sam stood there, letting her own tears continue to fall.

"Please, don't hate me." She cried, and Sam shook her head.

"Mags, I could never hate you." Sam told her, holding her body tightly. She was a comfort. Samantha relished in the fact that she was feeling her pain, so that she could have someone understand how she felt. This new life was hard, and she wasn't sure how they would make it through, or even if they would survive, but she was just happy that they could make it through together.


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